Redistribution of Wealth-Is It Christian?

The Pope said something today that I really disagree with.

"Pope Francis called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the "economy of exclusion" that is taking hold today.

Pasted from <http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_UN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-05-09-06-31-28>
 

That sounds more socialist than Christian to me.  What is the difference?  Well first off, the way I read Scripture it calls on us as individuals to care for the poor.  What does that mean? 

I'll tell you what it doesn't mean.  It doesn't mean the government taking something from one person and giving it to anther.  That is not generosity.  That is simply social engineering.   
 

Nowhere in the Bible does it tells us that we need to turn the poor into middle class citizens.  The Bible tells us to feed the poor and it also gives examples to follow. 

Leviticus 19:10  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.   10And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

Notice it didn't say harvest all the food and just give it to them.  It said leave enough food that the poor can go out and scrounge enough leftovers to feed themselves.  It doesn't say bring them a 7 course meal.  They still have an obligation to fend for themselves from the standpoint of getting the food. 

Leviticus 19:15  ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.

The Bible also tells us that the poor don't deserve special treatment just because they are poor.  As I've said before, a lot of people are poor because they haven't been following God's word to begin with! 
 

Are the poor thirsting after knowledge like Proverbs instructs us?  Are they running the race to win as the Apostle Paul instructs us, or are they doing just the minimum to get by?  Are they putting God first and giving to God as Malachi instructs, or are they off doing their own thing and totally ignoring God?  If you truly follow God's plan, it's really pretty hard to be poor.

I'm not even saying that they need to accept Christ to benefit from God's plan, although I would highly encourage it.  Even if they don't believe in God, if they would simply read and put into practice all that they find in Proverbs it would be almost impossible to be poor!