Vatican: World body needed to rein in market ‘distortions and inequalities’
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Quake survivor The hand of a victim rests on the shoulder of Yunus, a 13-year-old earthquake survivor, as he waits to be rescued from under a collapsed building in Ercis, near the eastern Turkish city of Van, Oct. 24. A magnitude 7.2 quake and multiple aftershocks in Turkey have left more than 370 people dead. More than 1,300 people were injured in the quake, which wiped out sections of Van and the town of Ercis.
Historic 21/2-ton bell stolen from cathedral By George Raine A 5,330-pound church bell the Archdiocese of San Francisco has owned since 1889 has been stolen from the grounds of St. Mary’s Cathedral, apparently for the scrap value of copper it will bring thieves. The bell was reported missing at 11 a.m. Oct. 23. It has been on a concrete slab in a garden in front of the cathedral at Geary Boulevard and Gough Street since 1970. “We cannot replace this historic and valuable item,” said George Wesolek, director of communications and public policy for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “Hopefully, the police will recover it, and we can put it back in its rightful place as a memory of the Catholic Church in San Francisco.” The bell – the size of the Liberty Bell, 62 inches in diameter – was forged by McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Md. It was given to the church by a San Rafael man, Duriham Carrigan, who was born in New York in 1839 and died in San Rafael in 1889. It was placed in the former St. Mary’s Cathedral at Van Ness Avenue BELL, page 4
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A Vatican document called for the gradual creation of a world political authority with broad powers to regulate financial markets and rein in the “inequalities and distortions of capitalist development.” The document said the current global financial crisis has revealed “selfishness, collective greed and the hoarding of goods on a great scale.” A supranational authority, it said, is needed to place the common good at the center of international economic activity. The 41-page text was titled, “Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global P u b l i c A u t h o r i t y.” Prepared by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, it was released Oct. 24 in several languages, Cardinal Peter Turkson including a provisional holds the new document. translation in English.
(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)
(CNS PHOTO/UMIT BEKTAS, REUTERS)
By John Thavis
The document cited the teachings of popes over the last 40 years on the need for a universal public authority that would transcend national interests. The current economic crisis, which has seen growing inequality between the rich and poor of the world, underlines the necessity to take concrete steps toward creating such an authority, it said. One major step, it said, should be reform of the international monetary system in a way that involves developing countries. The document foresaw creation of a “central world bank” that would regulate the flow of monetary exchanges; it said the International Monetary Fund had lost the ability to control the amount of credit risk taken on by the system. The document also proposed: – Taxation measures on financial transactions. Revenues could contribute to the creation of a “world reserve fund” to support the economies of countries hit by crisis, it said. – Forms of recapitalization of banks with public funds that make support conditional on “virtuous” behavior aimed at developing the real economy. – More effective management of financial shadow markets that are largely uncontrolled today. Such moves would be designed to make the global economy more responsive to the needs of the person, and less “subordinated to the interests of countries that effectively enjoy a position of economic and financial advantage,” it said. In making the case for a global authority, the document said the continued model of nationalistic self-interest seemed “anachronistic and surreal” in the age of globalization. MARKET, page 20
Season of saints: Inside, Page 8 This bell, which stood in the garden at St. Mary’s Cathedral and had been recovered from the previous cathedral church that burned down in 1962, was reported missing Oct. 23.
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INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION On the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 News in brief. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Question Corner . . . . . . . . . 16 Father Rolheiser . . . . . . . . . 17 Missal series . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
New U.S. nuncio ~ Page 5 ~ October 28, 2011
Grieving & Healing ~ Pages 7-11 ~
By the sword ~ Page 12 ~
ONE DOLLAR
Drama roundup . . . . . . . . . 20
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 13
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No. 33