The pope's answer to capitalist crisis-----pray.

So the head of the Vatican spoke today about the world around him. Is there any wonder why the global capitalist class, the world's supreme predators, have these religious figures as their spokespersons.

The pope made a point of singling out Syria for the violence that is taking place there.  He left out Bahrain, Afghanistan, Guantanamo or drone attacks on civilians and a million dead Iraqis.  He left out the 2 million in prison in the US. He is a trusted mouthpiece for the bankers of the world.  He called for peace talks to resume in the Middle East which means talks between Israel/US  and the Palestinians-------between a nation state pregnant with nuclear weapons, the most technologically advanced military, one of the most powerful in the world backed by "the" most powerful in the world and the Palestinians who have no military, no ships, no planes or missiles and no state.

Here's some of the advice he gave to the world, his suggestion for how we can make the world a better place.

"May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts which even today stain the earth with blood," he said. 

"May the Prince of Peace grant peace and stability to that Land where he chose to come into the world, and encourage the resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed,"

Talk about superficial glitter

"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light."

"Let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped. Let us allow ourselves to be made simple by the God who reveals himself to the simple of heart,".

What nonsense.  Do we think for one minute that Warren Buffet, Bil Gates or bankers and hedge fund managers sit around a table using this method?  Of course they don't. They would laugh at anyone that did because they know it would accomplish nothing, this nonsense is kept for us.

The pope dresses himself in fancy clothes and a million dollar hat and surrounds himself with the most crass materialist fancies and talks of the rest of us thinking too much about materialism, that which we can "be measured and grasped."  Yes pope, like food and shelter and clothing.

What cannot be grasped and is not meant to be grasped is the advice the pope offers above. It is pure fantasy.  The violence in the Middle East and around the world, the poverty, disease and environmental destruction that plagues us has its source in the material world.  These events are a product of the material world not some supernatural forces, the phantasmagorical struggle for our consciousness between a fictional Satan and Jehovah, between good and evil. There is no prince of peace that will rescue us and the pope knows it. Him and his organization, the only religious organization with its own state knows it, but better the prince of peace than us consciously understanding the real causes of these ills.

The conflicts are endemic to the way society is organized. Production based on one thing and one thing only, the rapacious quest for personal gain, for profit.  Capital is king, capital must expand and grow and those that have it must accumulate more. This is how the system works and all that stands in its way is sacrificed for profits' sake.

All the praying in the world won't rid ourselves of this monster which is why they push it because, like the drug addict, once he accepts the problem in his own mind he is free, he can do something about it and once we are aware of the material reasons behind the crises we face it becomes clear that the way to solve them is to act to alter our material existence to take control of the productive forces, the means by which we produce the necessities of life and produce not for the profit of a few but the needs of the many.