Progressive filmmaker Michael Moore claims Pope Francis told him capitalism is a sin and urged Moore to continue making his left-leaning documentaries.
In an interview with NBC’s “Late Night” with Seth Meyers, Moore said he asked the Roman Catholic pontiff about his thoughts on income inequality,
CNS News reported.
“It was an amazing moment, and I asked him if I could ask him a question,” Moore said. “And he said, ‘Yes.'”
Moore said he asked: “Do you believe that an economic system that benefits the few, the wealthy at the expense of the many is a sin?”
The pope replied, according to Moore, “Si” in Italian.
Moore said he pressed further for clarity: “So you believe capitalism, the kinda – the capitalism we have now is a sin?”
The pope replied: “Yes, it is. The poor must always come first.”
The filmmaker, who recently released the anti-Trump “Fahrenheit 11/9,” said the pope then grabbed his hand and said, “Please, pray for me.”
Moore said he replied: “I will, and please pray for me. And he said, ‘No, you have to make more movies.’ And I’m like, “‘I just wanted a prayer.’ He’s like, ‘No, you go back to – you go back work.’ He has a sense of humor.”
Hugo and me
Moore, along with a number of other prominent figures in Hollywood, was a big fan of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, whose socialist policies have ruined the once oil-rich country, with more than 2 million having fled catastrophic shortages of food, fresh water, electricity and basic medicines amid record violent crime.
After meeting at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, Moore posted pictures of the two of them together in a tweet.
“Hugo Chavez declared the oil belonged 2 the ppl. He used the oil $ 2 eliminate 75% of extreme poverty, provide free health & education 4 all,” Moore wrote.
No more successful system
FEE points out that the number of people worldwide living on less than about $2 per day today is less than half of what it was in 1990.
The biggest gains have occurred in countries that have opened up their markets, such as China and India.
- The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide declined by 80 percent from 1970 to 2006.
- Mortality rates for children under the age of five declined by 49 percent from 1990 to 2013.
- Poverty worldwide included 94 percent of the world’s population in 1820. In 2011, it was only 17 percent.
- Globally, those in the lower and middle income brackets saw increases in pay of 40 percent from 1988 to 2008.
- The world is 120 times better off today than in 1800 as a result of capitalism.
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