In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis criticized those who only think about money. He said this thinking can destroy people's lives.
POPE FRANCIS
'Itâ??s sad to see a priest whoâ??s at the end of his life; heâ??s in agony; heâ??s in a coma and his relatives are there like vultures, looking to see what they can take away.'
'Be courageous: be courageous. Make a choice. Sufficient money like that of an honest worker, sufficient savings like those of an honest worker. But all these financial interests are not permissible, this is idolatry.â?
Pope Francis invited Catholics to live the grace of a Christian poverty, which is the only way to true joy and happiness.
EXCERPTS OF PAPAL HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
'Our Lord God, the house of our Lord God is a house of prayer. Our encounter with the Lord (is) with the God of love. And the money-lord that enters into the house of God, is constantly seeking to enter inside. And those people who were changing money or selling things, they were renting their places, right? â?? from the priestsâ?¦ the priests were renting out those places and then received money. This is the lord that can ruin our life and can lead us to end our life in a bad way, without happiness, without the joy of serving the true Lord who is the only one capable of giving us that true joy.â?
'The people of God have a great flair for accepting, for canonizing as well as condemning â?? because the people of God are capable of condemning â?? for forgiving so many weaknesses, so many sins by priests but they cannot forgive two of them: attachment to money, because when they see a priest attached to money, they do not forgive him, and mistreating people, because when a priest mistreats the faithful: the people of God canâ??t accept this and they do not forgive him. The other things, the other weaknesses, the other sins â?¦.. yes ok, itâ??s not right but the poor man is alone, itâ??s thisâ?¦. And they seek to justify (his sins). But their condemnation is not as strong or as definitive: the people of God could understand this. Following the lord of money leads a priest to be the head of a firm or be a prince or we can go even higherâ?¦â?
'Itâ??s sad to see a priest whoâ??s at the end of his life, heâ??s in agony, heâ??s in a coma and his relatives are there like vultures, looking to see what they can take away. Let us grant this pleasure to the Lord, a true examination of our conscience. â??Lord, are you my Lord or is it â?? like Rachel â?? these teraphims hidden in my heart, this idol of money?â?? And be courageous: be courageous. Make a choice. Sufficient money like that of an honest worker, sufficient savings like those of an honest worker. But all these financial interests are not permissible, this is idolatry. May the Lord grant us all the grace of Christian poverty.â?
