Pope Francis hates trickle-down economics, but he isn't a liberal

The pope's first manifesto, Evangelii Gaudium, confirms a pontiff at home with Occupy Wall Street. With some big caveats.

Pope Francis
(Image credit: (Franco Origlia/Getty Images))

Two days before Thanksgiving, Pope Francis gave liberal Catholics plenty to be grateful for. On Tuesday, the pope released his first official papal manifesto, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), a 224-page apostolic exhortation laying out his vision of where the Catholic Church should be headed.

Much of the document focuses on pastoral issues and guidance for dioceses and parishes that won't be of much interest to many non-Catholics — though Catholics with boring parish priests will enjoy the pope's wry observation that many churchgoers "and their ordained ministers suffer because of homilies: The laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach them!" The pope also proposes a much more decentralized global Catholic Church.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.