At the Angelus on St. Peter’s Square, Francis warns against greed and greed: “A disease that is also dangerous for society. Because of him there are many paradoxes today: few have much and many have little or nothing”. Thank you for the welcome in Canada and the call for peace in Ukraine: “Stop and negotiate”. Greetings to the Jesuit confreres on the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Salvatore Cernuzio – Vatican City
Wars, conflicts, injustices, social paradoxes. Behind it is a single matrix: “Greed”. At the Angelus in front of the 12,000 faithful present in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis denounces what “is a disease that is also dangerous for society”, desires because of which “we have come to other paradoxes today, to an injustice like never before in of history where few have much and many have little or nothing”.
We also think of wars and conflicts: greed for resources and wealth is almost always involved. How many interests are behind a war! One of them is certainly the arms trade. This deal is a scandal that we must not and cannot accept
(Hear the report with the voice of the Pope)
Many families fight over the inheritance
After the Angelus prayer, the Pope turns to Ukraine, which he says never abandoned him during his trip to Canada. Faced with the “scourge of war”…
From the window of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope comments on this Sunday’s Gospel in his catechesis, in which a man, turning to Jesus, says: “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me”. “Similar problems are still the order of the day,” says Franz: “Unfortunately, how many siblings, how many members of the same family quarrel and perhaps no longer speak to each other because of the inheritance!”.
Greed, a disease that destroys people
The answer that Jesus offers to this man is not detailed, it does not go into detail, but goes to the root of the divisions caused by possession: “Keep away from all greed”. “What is greed?” asks the pope.
It is the unbridled greed for goods that always want to get rich. It is a disease that destroys people because the hunger for possessions is addictive. Above all, those who have a lot are never satisfied: they always want more and only for themselves. But in this way he is no longer free: he is being attacked, he is a slave to what, paradoxically, he needed to live free and serene.
The Pope during the Angelus
The temptation of money
In fact, the Pope emphasizes that one is moving from the “use of money” to the “servant of money”. Jesus himself, continues, “teaches us today that at the heart of all this is not just some powerful or secure systems: at the heart is the greed that is in the heart of everyone”.
The Pope invites you to a personal soul-searching:
How is my detachment from goods, from riches? Do I complain about what I’m missing or can I be content with what I have? Am I tempted to sacrifice relationships and time for others in the name of money and opportunity? And again, am I casually sacrificing legality and honesty on the altar of greed?
worship and idolatry
“Altar”, a word that Pope Francis uses not by chance: “Material goods, money, wealth can become a cult, a real idolatry,” he explains. That is why Jesus uses “strong words” and says that “two masters cannot be served.” “Let’s be careful,” the Pope observed, “he’s not saying God and the devil or good and evil, but God and riches. riches use yes; not to serve wealth: it is idolatry, it offends God”.
God, the richest of them all
Someone might think that you don’t want to get rich. “Of course you can, yes it is right to want it, it is nice to get rich, but rich after God! God is richest of all: he is rich in compassion, in mercy,” says Francis.
His wealth does not make anyone poor, he does not create quarrels and divisions. It is a wealth that loves to give, to distribute, to share.
“The accumulation of material goods is not enough to live well” is the message that the Pope wants to leave to the faithful with his Sunday catechesis. “Life doesn’t depend on what you have. Instead, what matters is good relationships: with God, with others, and even with those who have less.”
The faithful in St. Peter’s Square at the Pope’s Angelus
What legacy to leave?
From here, once again, a series of questions to be answered by digging into your own soul:
How do I want to get rich? For God or for my greed? And back to the topic of inheritance, what legacy do I want to leave behind? Money in the bank, material things or happy people around me, good works that will never be forgotten, people I have helped to grow and mature?
Prayers for the Ukrainian people
At the end of the Angelus, the Pope recalled his “penitential pilgrimage” that he had undertaken in Canada and ended yesterday, thanking the civil authorities, indigenous leaders and bishops for the welcome bestowed on him, but also all those who accompanied him in prayer . “During the journey I never stopped for the attacked and tortured Ukrainian people and asked God to deliver them from the scourge of war,” added the Pope, renewing the call for peace: “Stop and negotiate. May wisdom inspire concrete steps towards peace”.
Greetings to the Jesuit confreres
Today, on the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, of which he himself is a member, Jorge Mario Bergoglio addressed “a loving greeting to my Jesuit brothers”: “Walk on with zeal and joy in the service of the Lord, be courageous”.
Watch the full video of the Pope’s Angelus in St. Peter’s Square