Poverty’s solution is more freedom, not government-enforced, papal-endorsed theft

By Jeff Rhodes | Freedom Foundation

Ordinarily, I’d be reluctant to question the wisdom of someone more than a billion people consider infallible. But in this case, I can’t resist taking issue with the pope’s call last week for a “legitimate redistribution of wealth” to remedy what he considers an unconscionable income disparity between the rich and poor all over the world.

Speaking in Rome to the United Nations secretary general and other international leaders, Pope Francis continued his relentless assault on capitalism, even going to far as to assert the Bible demands that wealth be redistributed.

I’m certainly not going debate the pontiff on the content of the Bible, but when it comes to interpretation, I feel I’m on pretty safe ground in pointing out that, “Thou shalt not steal” almost certainly trumps whatever obscure verse he’s quoting from.

at Freedom Foundation.