Vatican slams the world's 'amoral' financial systems, calls for regulations

The Vatican just served up a savage statement to a majority of the world: Our financial systems have created a "reckless and amoral culture of waste."

In a 15-page document loaded with economic terminology, the Vatican on Thursday called for financial regulation to restore ethics to the world.

Recent financial crises should've allowed countries to rethink their economies and restore equality, the Vatican said. "On the contrary, the response seems at times like a return to the heights of myopic egoism," the document said, adding that post-crises repairs exclude "the common good" and "the concern to create and spread wealth." It has all left the poor "without possibilities, without any means of escape," per the Church.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In what looks like a hit on widespread movements toward deregulation, the Vatican said these crises show markets "are not capable of governing themselves." Rules are the only way to "eliminate every form of injustice and inequality" and ensure "the greatest possible equity" for the world, it added.

Holy harsh.