Africa and an Economy of Universal Human Solidarity: In the Footsteps of Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium

In his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium or The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis indicated the shortcomings of capitalism, the economic order dominant in the world today. The inhuman social conditions Francis has attributed to global capitalism can be observed concretely in the lives of the peoples of the African continent. As a result, there exists within Africa itself, on the one hand, and between Africa and other regions of the world, on the other, a cavernous gap between the rich and the poor classes. The main problem is that poverty revolves around fundamental injustices in the creation, distribution, and use of wealth. In the view of Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, contemporary orientations and structures of capitalism abet this situation and must be radically overhauled