Usury is the charge of interest to loans such as mortgages which are ripping people off and making the rich richer at the expense of others. Pope Leo XIV has denounced the practice of usury as a “grave sin” that destroys lives, families, and societies, calling it a “corruption of the human heart” that exploits the vulnerable and undermines human dignity.
For anyone who wants further clarification of what usury is, just look at what the Knights of Columbus do with their credit card. Up to 36%!!!!
I agree with Pope Leo, there are so many trapped in forever debt with mortgages, and student loans that will never be paid off. Very sad.
The Church, in its social doctrine, is certainly not an extension of the capitalist economic system...
Yes but does Pope Leo condemn Usury because he is a Catholic or because he is a Socialist/ Freemason and wishes to move to One World Globalist Control? I would doubt that Pope Leo is or ever has been a Catholic and I doubt very much if any of the Cardinals or ladies currently in Control in the Vatican are Catholics either.
I think credit cards have become the ruination of people. They are seduced into spending what they dont have and they never catch up.
I honestly wish Pope Leo would condemn a few other things that really need condemnation. Most of the other topics are wallowing in confusion. When Pope Leo says anything remotely Catholic, people cling to that. It's just like throwing breadcrumbs to the peasants to shut them up for a while,
I don’t think it is the problem with mortgage rates. In that case, the real problem is that houses are too dear. When I bought my first house, it was ridiculously cheap, but mortgage rates at the time were quite high. The high rates kept the house prices down and one could budget for the interest rates, which at the time could be claimed against income tax at the highest rate. I was lucky in that mortgage rates soon began to fall, but as a consequence house prices rose and as I was moving for career purposes two years after buying it, I made a 30% profit. However, for prospective buyers at the time (and it has got far worse since), they would probably have been better off with the higher rates. I think moderate interest rates are generally quite transparent and therefore easily planned for. They actually serve as a slight curb on rash consumption. They also reflect that there are certain costs in complex business that are expenses that need to be covered. This is perhaps the main reason why The Church modified its position from an absolute opposition on usury in the late Middle Ages. Without modest interest, our pensions would be greatly diminished. On the other hand, interest rates that greatly exceed inflation and necessary business costs, such as some credit card rates, are simply profiteering on the basis of what is ultimately an abstraction and this is what really amounts to usury. On top of this, which is at least understandable for the common man, are financial products common now in banking, such as default swaps and other kinds of magical chicanery, which lead the world to the precipice of universally unredeemable debt.
The student loans in the US, seem to this outsider an inevitable consequence of the absurd cost of third-level education there.
Live the Faith. Love our families. intercede for the lost. Hard, hard times are upon us, but the Two Hearts will never abandon us. Thank God the above clip provides the horrible scenario playing out in real time because we have the honor of being soldiers of Christ willing to help others see what is before us and provide them the Good News of Triumph so they can be forewarned and prepare. May we reach out in our parishes, workplaces, and/or neighborhoods to help place others in the hands of the Two Hearts! We probably can't stop the above, but the best preparation for everyone is to be in the hands of the Two Hearts.
I saw a funny little bit on Homer Simpson. Homer Simpson was a very ordinary worker in a very ordinary job. His wife Marge did not work at all, she was a housewife. They had two children to take care of. Yet they had a beautiful big house and yard and manged to do all with with one very average income. They were able to take good holidays and live well. He had assured long term employment. This was the way Americans lived back then. It raised no eyebrows. But now such a life, an ordinary guy living the American dream in such a way would be impossible. The average age of getting a mortgage nowadays if 40 years old. Far more men are unmarried than married nowadays. Both husband and wives work because they just have to. Even if they do semi get the American dream it comes at the price of immense mutual stress, with a very high probability of Divorce or drug addiction. But the things is when we look back on Homer and Marge so much of the way they lived was relaxed and care free.
I remember reading a telling statistic that in 1960 an average CEO earned seven times his lowest paid employee. Now I believe that multiple approximates a thousand. That indicates incomprehensible injustice.
So true Padraig. Knowing that my mom would be there at lunchtime and after-school was such a great feeling.
