After speaking of gluttony and lust, Pope Francis addressed the issue of greed. To clearly describe it, he recalled the story of the burial of a rich man.
POPE FRANCIS
The comments of the people who went to the wake included: You can see that this man has nothing now. He left everything behind. Then joking a bit they said: No, no, no. They couldn't close the coffin because he wanted to take everything with him. And that made other people laugh. The avarice.
The Pope pointed out that wealth, no matter how much or how little, becomes a sin when it overpowers a person and robs him of his freedom. This is what happens to those who are greedy.
POPE FRANCIS
They forget the Gospel preaching, which does not claim that riches in themselves are a sin, but they are certainly a responsibility.
Pope Francis made the suggestion to follow the advice of the holy monks of the desert—to meditate often on death as it helps unmask what he called the “madness of greed.”
At the end of the audience, the Pope once again called for peace in the Holy Land and, above all, in Ukraine, where he expressed regret that the latest Russian attacks were aimed at places where civilians usually gather.
JRB
TR: KG
