LATEST: Pope Leo XIV Denounces Global Capitalism as “Machine of Misery”—Warns of Spiritual Collapse Amid Ecological and Economic Crisis

By International Correspondent | Vatican City | May 23, 2025

In one of the most electrifying and ideologically charged papal addresses in living memory, Pope Leo XIV today unleashed a thunderous condemnation of what he called a “predatory global economic system that crucifies the poor and desecrates the Earth.” Speaking before a crowd of thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square—and millions more watching live around the world—the Pope accused world leaders, corporate elites, and financial institutions of perpetuating a system that is not only unsustainable, but fundamentally immoral.

“There is no invisible hand,” he declared. “There is only the very visible suffering of children without food, rivers without fish, workers without rights, and futures without hope.”

Delivered as part of the Vatican’s annual World Day for Social Justice and Integral Ecology, the address represents a radical escalation in the pontiff’s moral and political engagement with the global order. More than a sermon, it was a call to arms: a prophetic rebuke of unchecked capitalism, imperialism, ecological collapse, and the moral decay of the ultra-wealthy.

From Silent Doctrine to Roaring Dissent

While the Catholic Church has long preached compassion for the poor and stewardship of creation, Leo XIV has catapulted these teachings from the periphery of ecclesiastical concern to the center of global political debate.

Following in the footsteps of Rerum Novarum (1891) and Laudato Si’ (2015), Leo’s address and his recent encyclical Terra Mater in Agonia (Mother Earth in Agony) argue that current economic models are not just misguided—they are structurally sinful.

“We have built an empire of death atop the bones of the vulnerable,” he said. “It is not an economic model. It is a machine of misery.”

Unlike previous popes who stopped short of naming capitalism as such, Leo XIV’s language leaves little ambiguity. He refers to the system not in abstract terms, but in vivid, confrontational prose: “Cannibalistic.” “Idolatrous.” “Morally bankrupt.” He condemned “investment portfolios that profit from famine” and “shareholder meetings where forests are reduced to metrics and children to labor costs.”

The Economic System as Theological Heresy

For Leo XIV, the crisis is not merely economic or environmental—it is theological. He accused neoliberalism of being a “pseudo-religion” that enshrines greed as virtue and treats poverty as personal failure rather than structural violence.

“When profit is the altar and consumption the liturgy, then the world becomes a temple of despair.”

He invoked the parable of Lazarus and the rich man—not as a cautionary tale but as a living reality. In his telling, the rich man wears a tailored suit, drives a self-driving car, and holds majority shares in a mining company that poisons rivers in Congo.

A Global System Built on Extraction and Sacrifice

The Pope’s address drew sharp attention to the global asymmetry of suffering: how the wealthiest 1% consume more than half the world’s resources, while over 700 million people still live on less than $2.15 a day. He specifically condemned:

• The extraction of rare earth minerals from the Global South to power luxury technology in the North.

• Land grabs that displace Indigenous communities under the guise of “development.”

• Offshore tax havens, which he called “tombs of stolen futures.”

• The commodification of life itself—from seeds to genes to data.

“The poor are not a problem to be solved. They are a mirror we refuse to look into because we fear what we will see: our comfort, built on their suffering.”

Eco-Crucifixion: The Spiritual Crime of Ecological Collapse

Pope Leo XIV also delivered a blistering critique of environmental degradation, which he called “a spiritual crime of planetary proportions.” In passionate tones, he denounced “the auctioning of creation to the highest bidder,” linking ecological destruction directly to the same forces driving inequality.

“We are not facing a climate crisis. We are witnessing a climate crucifixion.”

He warned that continued environmental neglect would lead not just to political instability but to a collapse of human meaning, where young people inherit a world “without trees, without dreams, without dignity.”

No Salvation Without Justice: A Political Theology of Redistribution

In what observers are calling a direct challenge to the G7, the World Bank, and multinational corporations, Leo XIV demanded concrete, binding action. Among his proposals:

• A UN-backed Global Wealth Redistribution Treaty

• A Universal Basic Income to eliminate extreme poverty

• Cancellation of odious debt owed by former colonies

• Criminalization of ecocide and environmental genocide

• A moratorium on new fossil fuel infrastructure worldwide

“The Earth cries out. The poor cry out. If we do not listen, we will have no future worth inheriting.”

Shockwaves Across the Globe

Unsurprisingly, the address has triggered intense global reactions.

• The IMF issued a veiled rebuke, calling for “measured dialogue” rather than “populist critique.”

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised the Pope, saying the world “needs moral courage as much as political will.”

• In the U.S., Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “Pope Leo XIV is saying what politicians are too afraid to: capitalism without conscience is violence.”

• Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Griffin posted mockingly, “The Vatican should try running a company before giving economic advice.”

Even within the Church, fissures are emerging. Some bishops in Europe and Latin America have pledged to reform Church finances in line with the Pope’s call, while several U.S. cardinals have expressed “deep unease” at what they see as overt politicization.

The New Vatican Doctrine: Resistance and Renewal

Leo XIV’s address caps a broader shift in Vatican policy under his leadership, one that emphasizes prophetic resistance over institutional preservation. This includes:

• Divesting the Vatican Bank from fossil fuels and arms manufacturing

• Supporting land reform movements in the Global South

• Backing international campaigns to recognize “the Rights of Nature” in law

Behind the rhetoric lies a clear vision: a Church aligned not with emperors but with exiles, not with capital but with creation.

Conclusion: A Dangerous Hope

Pope Leo XIV has drawn a clear moral line. His message is uncompromising, even revolutionary: that true Christianity is incompatible with an economic system that rewards cruelty, monetizes destruction, and celebrates inequality.

“If Christ came back today,” he said, “he would not be invited to Davos. He would be jailed at a border, profiled as a threat, and crucified by markets.”

Whether the world will heed this message remains to be seen. But in an age of despair and distraction, Leo XIV is offering something increasingly rare: dangerous hope.

And that, perhaps, is the most radical thing of all.