NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      SAO PAULO, Brazil (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Claudio Hummes was installed on Sunday as the leader of the world's largest archdiocese, succeeding Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, who had been criticized as too supportive of Marxist-inspired Liberation Theology.

      Archbishop Hummes in his opening remarks to a news conference criticized economic globalization for increasing poverty around the world. "Market economy has reinvented poverty in many countries," he said. "And in many parts of the world, poverty has been aggravated because of neo-liberal policies." Making a break with his predecessor's social and economic policy-centered ideas, Archbishop Hummes said, "The fundamental mission of the Church is to spread the Gospel and bring people in closer contact with Jesus Christ. And it is through this contact that we can start correcting social injustices."

      Archbishop Hummes, 63, a Franciscan, had most recently served as archbishop of Fortaleza, Brazil and before that was Bishop of Santo Andre, outside Sao Paulo.