We are grateful that communism no longer terrorizes people in many countries. It was responsible for millions of deaths of innocent people. While the threat of communism has receded, the threat of economic oppression has emerged as a giant to terrorize the poor. Communism forced the First World to be concerned about the needs of the poor. That force is no longer present for the promotion of human rights among working people.
People know they've lost their freedom when they've been run over by a tank.
They are not so quick to notice the loss of freedom that comes from enervation of the soul and slavery to appetite. We publish this joint statement, of which the signatories include editors of publications which represent varying points of view, to continue to encourage a dialogue and discernment among Catholics and other Christians about our responsibility for the economic situation in our world and for the implications of the Pope's call to holiness for each of our daily lives and life styles. In the long run, communism itself may have had less power to destroy traditional morality and historic cultures than the disintegrative consumerism of the West. The Pope is setting out one of the most fundamental requirements of the new evangelization. The universal call to holiness, made concrete in the promotion of justice and leading towards a civilization of love, demands nothing less than a change of life-styles.