Pope Francis says 'trickle-down' theories rely on a 'crude and naive trust.' Pope no fan of 'trickle-down' theory

Pope Francis issued a rare economic verdict Tuesday in the first major document of his papacy, outlining his vision for the Roman Catholic Church denouncing “trickle-down theories.”

“Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills,” Francis said in the first “apostolic exhortation” since he was chosen to lead the church eight months ago.


In the document, Francis bemoaned a culture of competition and opportunism between economic classes, and singled out “trickle-down” theories for excluding the poor.

“In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” he said. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

“Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless,” he said. “Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.”

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Pope Francis