Pope Francis: Capitalism must consider impact on humanity, environment

“The pre­car­i­ous con­di­tion of our com­mon home has been the result large­ly of a fal­la­cious eco­nom­ic mod­el that has been fol­lowed for too long,” Pope Fran­cis said May 3.

Fran­cis called this eco­nom­ic mod­el “prof­it-ori­ent­ed, short­sight­ed, and based on the mis­con­cep­tion of unlim­it­ed eco­nom­ic growth,” and said that it results in a “dis­as­trous impact on the nat­ur­al world.”

“Eco­nom­ic pow­ers con­tin­ue to jus­ti­fy the cur­rent glob­al sys­tem where pri­or­i­ty tends to be giv­en to […] the pur­suit of finan­cial gain, which fail to take the con­text into account, let alone the effects on human dig­ni­ty and the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment,” he said.