This economy kills, says the Pope

(AGI) Vatican City, Feb 7 - "This economy kills", said PopeFrancis in a video message to the Milan Expo 2015 on Sunday, inwhich he emphasised that "it is not possible that the death byexposure of homeless elderly man living in the streets does notmake the news while a two percent drop in the Stock Exchangedoes". "The root of all evils is inequality", said PopeFrancis. In his video message, he quoted his Evangelii Gaudiumdocument to say "no to an economy of exclusion and inequality",which is the "fruit of the law of competitiveness that meansthe strongest survive over the weak". "Beware: this is not onlya logic of exploitation but also of waste", he said, addingthat the excluded are not only excluded or exploited butrefuse, waste. "If we really want to solve these problems andnot lose ourselves in sophisms, we need to tackle the rootcauses. And to do this, there are urgent choices to make: arejection of the total autonomy of the markets and of financialspeculation", the Pope stressed. The Pope continued: "Thenumber one concern must be for the actual person; how manypeople lack food on a daily basis and have stopped thinkingabout life, about family and social relationships, justfighting to survive?". In connection to this, Pope Francisquoted Saint John Paul II who condemned the "paradox ofabundance" whereby "there is food for everyone, but noteveryone can eat" while "at the same time the excessiveconsumption and waste of food and the use of it for other meansis there before our eyes". The paradox still holds, said thePope. Few are the themes on which there are so many sophisms asthat of hunger; and few are the arguments equally susceptibleto be manipulated through data, statistics, national securityneeds, corruption or a distressed reference to the economiccrisis, he said. In order to overcome the temptation ofsophisms, he said, "the nominalization of thought which glidesover but never touches the reality", we need to direct ourglance and our heart not onto an emergency-induced pragmatismbut a resolute decision to solve the structural causes ofpoverty. In our modern-day world, the Pope went on to say,female bodies are too often attacked and disfigured even bythose who should be their custodians and lifelong partners. ThePope condemned all forms of slavery, commercialisation andmutilation of women's bodies, and "we should be committed towork to defeat this form of degradation that reduces femalebodies into an object to sell undercost on different market",he said. For the Pope, "the body of a woman is the symbol oflife". Pope Francis would like women to "feel not as guests butfully participate in the different relams of social andecclesiastic life". He said: "This challenge can no longer bepostponed. I am convinced of the urgency to make space forwomen in the life of the Church and to englobe them, takinginto account the specific and changed cultural and socialsensitivities. We should therefore hope to have a morecapillary and incisive presence of women in Communities and seemore women involved in pastoral responsibilities, such asaccompanying people, families and groups, as well as intheological reflection". (AGI) . .