The New York Times, Pope Francis, and I'm Speechless

Cause we've discussed this.  We really have.  Theology that focuses on the poor is not automatically "liberation theology."  And yet, behold!  Excerpts:

He has criticized the “cult of money” and greed he sees driving the world financial system, reflecting his affinity for liberation theology...

Francis’ speeches clearly draw on the themes of liberation theology, a movement that seeks to use the teachings of the Gospel to help free people from poverty and that has been particularly strong in his native Latin America. In the 1980s, Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, led a campaign to rein in the movement, which he saw as too closely tied to some Marxist political elements.

Francis studied with an Argentine Jesuit priest who was a proponent of liberation theology, and Father Lombardi acknowledged the echoes. “But what is clear is that he was always against the strains of liberation theology that had an ideological Marxist element,” he said...

Le sigh.  Guys: here's a sampling of Catholic teaching and lived witness on poverty, social justice, and works of mercy:

• Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
• Caritas in Veritate
• Centesimus Annus
• Rerum Novarum
• Happy Are You Poor: The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom
• What to Do When Jesus Is Hungry: A Practical Guide to the Works of Mercy
• The Work of Mercy: Being the Hands and Heart of Christ
• Harsh and Dreadful Love
• Catherine De Hueck Doherty: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters)
• No Greater Love
• Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (The Classics of Western Spirituality)