Vatican City now praises the man who once described religion as “the opium of the people“.
A New Religious Icon?
“Religion is the opiate of the people“, is one of the most famous and well-known sayings of Karl Marx, a German philosopher and political economist. To his opinion, religion is but a mere deception and a one which through the entire history had misled the weak and prevented them from uprising in order to improve their financial situation. Thus, it’s no wonder that for the last 150 years his books and theories were “banned” from the church. On the contrary, what does sound surprising is the fact that this week the Vatican published an article who praises the Marxism, his doctrine which advocates communist and socialist ideas.
The article appeared in L’Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the spiritual capital of a billion Catholics, thus giving it papal endorsement. It claimed that Marx’s criticism on the western capitalism “succeeds in protruding the social alienation that is felt by a large part of humanity” and that remained excluded, even now, from economic and political decision-making. The article also claimed that today, his criticism is more relevant than ever, since mankind is now looking forward to a new harmony between its needs and the natural environment. In addition, the paper argued that Marx’s theories may help to explain the persisting subject of income inequality within capitalist societies.
This sudden approval adds to a constantly growing list of “qualification” actions taken by the Vatican regarding historical figures that underwent an unlikely reappraisal by the church. The first example (is related to the maybe oldest religion-science clash in history) is the legitimization of Galileo, who was on a constant run, playing hide and seek with church only because he cleverly and bravely claimed that the earth is the one who spins around the sun and not the opposite. Likewise, a senior Vatican spokesman argued that Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution can go hand in hand and be compatible with the belief of the church in the tale of Genesis. Moreover, in July the same paper also cherished the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, which if you Google him you will find out why he and his outtakes against the church’s conservatism don’t exactly go single handedly.
And the alibi? Although the article did criticize some of Marx’s theories, it conveniently said that Marx’s intellectual legacy was abandoned over the years because of the misappropriation of his work by communist regimes and their manipulations of his words. In the end it seems that everything is “kosher” for the Vatican when battling with capitalism. It’s just another means to an end. Even though these are times of change, it’s not so clear how a man who once said that religion “is the heart of a heartless world” can now be endorsed by the church, but maybe we are just politically in-correct.
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