Rush Limbaugh decries Pope Francis’ ‘pure Marxism’ teachings

Conservative radio talk show icon Rush Limbaugh said Pope Francis has issued a 50,000-word statement, “The Joy of the Gospel,” that contains notable suggestions for Catholic Church reform — but of dismay is the pontiff’s economic principles and denouncement of capitalism.

That aspect is “pure Marxism,” Mr. Limbaugh said, on a recent broadcast reported by CNN.

Other media have reported that the pontiff, in his “Evangelii Gaudium” document, blasts capitalism. Mr. Limbaugh picked up that message and in a posting on his website titled, “It’s Sad How Wrong Pope Francis Is (Unless It’s a Deliberate Mistranslation by Leftists),” wrote that he had been “admiring the man” — and then he read the document.

“Now I’m not Catholic,” Mr. Limbaugh wrote. “[But] up until this, I have to tell you, I was admiring the man. … But this that I came across last night totally befuddled me. If it weren’t for capitalism, I don’t know where the Catholic Church would be.” Mr. Limbaugh referred to the “sad” and “unbelievable” papal proclamation the pope wrote “about the utter evils of capitalism,” and said the pontiff didn’t understand how economics worked.

Mr. Limbaugh went on: “Pope Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as ’a new tyranny’ and beseeched global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality. … In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticizing the global economic system, attacking the ’idolatry of money.’ … What this is, somebody has either written this for him or gotten to him. This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope. Unfettered capitalism? That doesn’t exist anywhere. Unfettered capitalism is a liberal socialist phrase to described the United States. Unfettered, unregulated.”