High Pontiff Offers Confusing Parable on ‘Globalization’ and ‘Colonization’

In this grand, new world that we live in, there are giant, tectonic forces at play, dragging us heretofore with jarring speed.

For instance, and thanks in no small part to the power of the internet, the world is getting smaller.  Our ability to instantly communicate to the rest of the entire planet has meant that cultures and markets begin to swirl together.  If this is a natural melting pot, there’s no real pushback.  But when leaders and authorities around the world start to endorse the idea of globalism, there are plenty of folks who get a little antsy.

This week, Pope Francis attempted to interject the concept into his own message, but mainly just confused everyone.

In his address to participants at the fifth global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, the pope denounced a one-size-fits-all, globalist mentality that prioritizes sameness over variety.

Communion and solidarity do not stem from homogeneity, the pontiff said, and “globalization cannot mean a uniformity that ignores diversity and imposes a new kind of colonialism.”

The challenge, he said, “is to create alternatives based on solidarity so that no one feels ignored, but without imposing overwhelmingly its own direction, considering it to be the only correct one.”

When diversities are articulated and mutually enriching, “communion between peoples flourishes and comes to life,” he added.

The idea that globalism’s homogeny would somehow be akin to the piercing individualism of colonialism make the high pontiff’s statement seem more like an attempt to hit on a couple of hot-button phrases for the sake of attention.