Pope to shoppers: Don't buy products made by modern-day slaves

The Catholic Pope, not to be confused with the various other Popes, has asked that we reconsider buying “items which may well have been produced by exploiting others” (full speech). Wonderful advice! We fully support it here at the Galactic Free Press, but I wonder if the Pope understands that means just about every product at just about every major US retailer?

The orgy of consumerism that Christmas has become seems one of the absolute worst ways to celebrate Jesus' birthday. In fact, I'm pretty sure the Bible specifically says he was against that kind of thing. We're celebrating Jesus by making the ridiculously rich ridiculously richer? Really? Are we celebrating Jesus' birthday, or are we disrespecting his memory and doing the kinds of things that pissed him off? I can easily imagine Jesus flipping tables and knocking over displays at Walmart while accusing “Christians” of hypocrisy, I really don't see him supporting our current way of celebrating Christmas.

The Pope also called on business and governments to help end slavery, but I'm not gonna hold my breath there. I don't quite believe the ones who profit the most off of slavery are going to do much to help end it. Anyway, here's the full article on Rappler.com where I first learned about this form.