Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Monday denounced those
getting rich through speculation in financial markets, calling on them to use
their investments for the good of humanity.
"It is increasingly intolerable that financial
markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or
that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many
are deeply burdened by the consequences," he said.
The pope, who has said he wants to create "a
poor church for the poor", has frequently spoken out against the
"idolatry of money" since his election last year.
The 77-year-old said "it is important that
ethics once again play its due part in the world of finance" and that
markets should "serve the interests of peoples and the common good of
humanity".
Francis singled out speculation in agricultural
markets calling it "a scandal which seriously compromises access to food
on the part of the poorest members of our human family".
Speculation
is the act of trading in an asset, or conducting a financial transaction, that
has a significant risk of losing most or all of the initial outlay, in
expectation of a substantial gain.
With speculation, the risk of loss is more
than offset by the possibility of a huge gain; otherwise, there would be very
little motivation to speculate.
While it is often confused with gambling, the
key difference is that speculation is generally tantamount to taking a
calculated risk and is not dependent on pure chance, whereas gambling depends
on totally random outcomes or chance.
Many of the world's largest banks, including
Barclays, Deutsche Bank and UBS, have sold off or slashed the size of their
commodities businesses in the face of heavy criticism for speculating in
commodities markets.
Instead, the pope called on people to put their
money into ethical banks and "impact investors", who use investments
to help the poor.
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