Pope Benedict XVI: Winner of the Kim Jong-Il prize

Le Mont De Sisyphe is proud to announce the latest winner of the Kim Jong-Il Prize: Pope Benedict XVI Comrade Pope Benedict XVI is given this much-coveted award for his exemplary struggle against the oppression of the world's poor by the greedy and for more social justice through fair regulations: Our laureate is about to condemn the use of evil tax havens by the class ennemies Multi-national enterprises for they harm the efforts of the benevolent bureaucrats to shape the world at the expense of the produvctive men in accordance with more equitable standards. Via Taxanalysts (subscribers only): Pope Benedict XVI, spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is set to condemn the use of offshore tax havens as an immoral and "socially unjust" practice, according to media reports coming out of Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI, spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is set to condemn tax evasion and the use of offshore tax havens as immoral and unjust practices, according to media reports coming out of Vatican City. The papal denunciation is expected to take the form of an encyclical to be released in matter of days. The document will discuss taxation within the context of a broader discussion of social justice and the economic challenges of globalization. Encyclicals are authoritative statement of Catholic Church policy authored by the pontiff and issued by the church on an intermittent basis. The move would represent a rare instance of one of the world's major religious figures taking a firm stance on the secular matter of taxation. The Catholic Church claims a worldwide following of more than one billion people. The pope will argue that tax evasion, tax havens, and offshore banks are "socially unjust" since they reduce government tax revenues and diminish governments' ability to help society's least fortunate, The Times of London reported on August 14. Ignzaio Ingrao, a Vatican insider, says the pope will argue for a world trade and economic system that is "regulated in such a way as to avoid further injustice and discrimination," the newspaper said. (...) (Thanks P.B.) UPDATE (16.08.2007, 22:51): Read the Liberty Papers on this: Leaving aside the fact that the encyclical ignores historical facts such as the complete failure of any economic system based on the idea of “an equitable world system based on social justice rather than profit,” it’s disturbing that the Church seems to ignore history, and the complete and abject failure of that laboratory of socialism known as the Soviet Union and it’s allies. Moreover, given the fact that socialism in power has traditionally been an enemy of religion, one would think that the Church would think twice about endorsing its underlying premises. So, yes, according to the Catholic Church, taking steps to prevent the state from taking your property is wrong. Something tells me there’s something wrong with that idea to begin with