The majority of the world's people are not Catholic, and many are not religious in any manner whatsoever, but no serious observer would consider Pope Francis a conspiracy theorist or a "doomsayer."
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And yet, in a new message to the masses, the pontiff is making observations that have been made for at least the past couple of years by other observers of the global economy who have been derided as conspiracy theorists: Things are not good, and in fact, they are looking more dire by the day.
The pontiff recently launched a scathing attack on the global economic system, warning that it is nearing collapse due to a "throwaway culture" of greed and licentiousness, as well as the "atrocity" of youth unemployment.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church's 1 billion-plus believers openly blasted the "idolatrous" economy for discarding many of the world's young people, which he noted has led to shocking levels of youth unemployment that will eventually contribute to the loss of an entire generation.
'Our world cannot take it anymore'
Francis, 77, also lashed out at the global economy, which he said had "fallen into a sin of idolatry, the idolatry of money," and that it has managed to survive on the profits of war, according to Brtiain's Daily Mail.
The paper further reported:
The Pope's damning message came amid comments he made about the break-up of countries such as Scotland and Catalonia, which came as a huge blow to the Scottish Yes campaign.
"Our world cannot take it anymore. Our global economic system can't take any more," Francis said in an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. "We discard a whole generation to maintain an economic system that no longer endures - a system that to survive has to make war, as the big empires have always done.
"The economy is moved by the ambition of having more and, paradoxically, it feeds a throwaway culture," the pontiff said.
Francis expressed particular concern over the "worrisome" statistics of youth unemployment.
"The rate of unemployment is very worrisome to me, which in some countries is over 50 percent. That is an atrocity," the pontiff said. "Young people are thrown away when their natality is limited. The elderly are also discarded because they don't serve any use anymore.
"In throwing away the kids and elderly, the future of a people is thrown away because the young people are going to push forcefully forward and because the elderly give us wisdom," said the Catholic leader.
Francis further criticized the influence of war and the military on the global economy.
'At the center of all economic systems must be man'
"Since we cannot wage the Third World War," he told the Spanish paper, "we make regional wars. And what does that mean? That we make and sell arms."
Continuing, he said, "And with that the balance sheets of the idolatrous economies -- the big world economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money -- are obviously sorted.
"This unique thought takes away the wealth of diversity of thought and therefore the wealth of a dialogue between peoples."
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global arms sales fell by a little more than 4 percent in 2012, but since then, both Russia and China have posted arms sales gains. Also, the institute reported that total arms sales are up 29 percent since 2003.
Still, there are a number of nations rearming at an alarming rate, especially in Asia. And the global economy most certainly is tenuous, as the pontiff -- and earlier analysts -- have noted.
"At the centre of all economic systems must be man, man and woman, and everything else must be in service of this man," Francis said. "But we have put money at the centre, the god of money."
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