Michael Moore Says Pope Told Him “Capitalism is a Sin”

If Michael Moore is to be believed (and on this point, I believe him), Pope Francis reportedly told him that capitalism is a “sin” during a private meeting between the two. Pope Francis has long advocated for numerous left-wing causes (most notably climate change) and railed against economic inequality, so it wouldn’t be a great surprise.

According to Moore, he said, “Do you believe that an economic system that benefits the few, the wealthy at the expense of the many is a sin? And he said to me, ‘Si’ in Italian … And I said, ‘So you believe capitalism, the kinda—the capitalism we have now is a sin?’ He goes, ‘Yes, it is.’ He said, ‘The poor must always come first.’

Did Pope Francis REALLY condemn capitalism?

In fairness, Pope Francis doesn’t appear to be condemning capitalism as a whole in the statement, but rather “capitalism in its current form.” Presumably, Pope Francis would be comfortable with capitalism if it resembled the sort of “capitalist welfare states” we see in Scandinavia, where a capitalist market is allowed a little room, but only with high taxation and wealth redistribution. It’s certainly not my brand of capitalism, but it could be Francis’. Then again, I’m basing all of this speculation on the theory that Michael Moore isn’t misrepresenting that Francis said.

If Pope Francis wants to help the poor, there truly is no better system than capitalism. In just the past two centuries, the percentage of the global population living in extreme poverty has nearly disappeared. Even left-wing Vox admits that extreme poverty declined from over 90% to around 10% today. Poverty may be a problem today – but before capitalism – it was the norm for everyone except a select few.

Not all Catholics on board with Francis’ political pronouncements

Regardless of what Pope Francis’ ideal economic system is, many didn’t take his critique of capitalism well.


While I’ve always disagreed with Pope Francis’ political statements when it comes to climate change, economics, or illegal immigration, it’s amusing seeing liberals quote Francis as a moral authority on political topics. Why don’t they try asking him his opinion on same sex marriage, abortion, or transgenderism, and then we can see how comfortable liberals feel in quoting Francis as such.

By Matt

Matt is the co-founder of Unbiased America and a freelance writer specializing in economics and politics. He’s been published... More about Matt

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