MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Francis criticizes ‘savage capitalism” and the “logic of profit at any cost”

The Pope greeted the men and women at the ‘Gift of Mary’ food kitchen

Pope Francis criticised what he called “savage capitalism” on a visit to a food kitchen on Tuesday, in an address in which he called for the values of generosity and charity to be revived.

“A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to get, of exploitation without thinking of people... and we see the results in the crisis we are experiencing,” the pope said.

Francis greeted the men and women coming to the 'Gift of Maria' food kitchen, located at the walls of the Vatican.

The first non-European pontiff in centuries, the Argentine-born pope last week called for financial reform, condemning a “dictatorship of the economy” and a “cult of money”.

In a recent speech to ambassador Francis condemned the global “cult of money” and urged world leaders to do more for the poor. He added money should be made to “serve” people, not to “rule” them.

“Money has to serve, not to rule” said the Pope emphasizing that in his strongest a major reason behind the increase in social and economic woes worldwide “is in our relationship with money and our acceptance of its power over us and our society”.

“We have created new idols” where the “golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”

Francis further pointed to policies and actions that stem from a “gravely deficient human perspective, which reduces man to one of his needs alone, namely, consumption.”

“We have begun this culture of disposal,” he said, where “human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away.”

Francis has set a simpler style for the papacy since taking office in March, shunning traditional ornate garments and living in a guest house instead of the Apostolic Palace. He has said he wants the 1.2-billion-member Catholic Church to defend the poor and to be more austere itself.