Michael October - November

Pope Francis denounces the idolatry of money

We must guard ourselves against the temp-

tation to idolize money, for this may weaken our

faith and accustom us to the deception of mean-

ingless and hurtful desires that lead people to

destruction and perdition. Pope Francis warned

against this danger at Mass on Friday morning,

September 20, 2013, in the Chapel of the Domus

Sanctae Marthae.

The Holy Father commented on the Readings of

the day, saying: “Jesus told us clearly and definitive-

ly, that we cannot serve

two masters, you can-

not serve both God and

money. It just doesn’t

work. There is some-

thing about the attitude

of love towards money

that takes us away from

God”. Quoting the First

Letter of St Paul to Tim-

othy (6:2-12, “The love

of money is the root of

all evils”), the Pope said:

“Those who want to be

rich fall into temptation

and deception, and the many foolish and harmful

desires that plunge men into ruin and perdition”.

Taken by “this desire, some have wandered away

from the faith and have brought many torments

upon themselves”. “Money is so powerful, that it

makes us deviate from the faith”, it even “robs us of

our faith, weakens it and makes us lose it”.

“But money also sickens our thoughts, it even

sickens our faith and makes it chose another path.

These idle words, useless discussions... It goes

even further... It gives rise to envy, strife, slander,

evil suspicions, the conflicts of men with corrupt

minds and destitute of the truth , who consider re-

ligion as a source of income.

“I’m a Catholic, I go to Mass , because that gives

me a certain status. I amwell considered... but under-

neath I take care of my own interests, right ? I culti-

vate money. Here a word is used by Saint Paul, which

we find very, very frequently in the newspapers:

‘Men of corrupt mind. ‘Money corrupts ! There is no

way out . If you choose the road of money, in the end

you will be corrupt . Money is this seductive that it

slowly leads you to slip towards perdition. That is

why Jesus is so categorical: You can not serve God

and money. You can not: either one or the other !

And this is not communism, eh! This is pure Gospel !

These are the words of Jesus ! ”

“So what happens with money? ” the Pope

asked. “Money offers a degree of prosperity: you

are alright, you feel a little important and then

comes the vanity. We have read in Psalm 48: this

vanity comes to you. Vanity that is useless, but

makes you feel like an important person”. Vanity,

pride, wealth: this is how men in the Psalm are

described: Those who “trust in their strength, and

boast of their great wealth”.

And so what is the truth? The truth, the Pope ex-

plained, is that “no one

can redeem himself, or

pay toGod the appropri-

ate price. The redemp-

tion of a life would be

too expensive. No one

can save themselves

with money”, however

strong the temptation

may be to chase “the

wealth of feeling suf-

ficient, the vanity of

feeling important and,

in the end, pride and ar-

rogance”.

“

But, Father, I read the Ten Commandments

and they do not speak ill of money. Against which

Commandment do we sin when we do something

for money? ”

“Against the first ! (Exodus 20:3: ‘You shall

have no other gods before me.’) It is the sin of

idolatry. Here’s why: because money becomes

the idol you worship! And that is why Jesus tells

us: ‘You can not serve the idol money and the

Living God: either one or the other.’

“The early Fathers of the Church – I am speak-

ing of the third century, more or less 200 or 300

AD – used a strong word: ‘money is the devil’s

dung.’ And it is so, because it makes us idolaters,

and sickens our mind with pride and makes us ma-

niacs of idle issues and distances us from the faith,

it corrupts.

“St. Paul tells us to avoid these things, but to

strive for justice, godliness, faith, love. And pa-

tience and meakness, against vanity and pride.

This is ‘the road of God, not that of the idolatrous

power that money can give. Humility is ‘the road

to serve God. May the Lord – the Holy Father con-

cluded – help us all to not fall into the trap of idol-

atry of money.”

Pope Francis

Two

days

after his Sept. 20

homily, in which

he denounced

the idolatry of

money,

Pope

Francis took on

the same theme

in a speech to

20,000 workers

in Cagliari, cap-

ital of Sardinia

– Italy’s second

largest

island

(after Sicily).

A special link

binds Cagliari

to Pope Fran-

cis who, until last year, was Archbishop of Buenos

Aires in Argentina. The patron saint of Cagliari is Our

Lady of Bonaria (in English, Good Air). The founders

that established Buenos Aires wished to name it the

city of Holy Spirit, but the sailors, who had brought

the founders there, were Sardinians and wanted it

to be named the city of the Madonna of Bonaria. In

the end, a compromise was reached, and the city

was “City of the Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary

of Buon Aria”, but it was so long that only the last

words survived: Buon Aria, Buenos Aires.

Putting aside his prepared text, Pope Francis

made one of his strongest attacks on the global eco-

nomic system, saying it could no longer be based on

a “god called money”. Here are large excerpts from

his speech:

Where there is no work, dignity is lacking! And

this isn’t only a problem of Sardinia – but it’s strong

here ! (

Editor’s note: Cagliari has a youth unemploy-

ment rate of about 51 percent

) – it’s not only a prob-

lem of Italy and of some countries of Europe, it’s the

consequence of a worldwide choice, of an economic

system that leads to this tragedy; an economic sys-

tem that has an idol at the center, which is called

money.

God did not want the center of the world to

be an idol, but man, man and woman, who lead the

world forward with their work.

However now, in this system without ethics,

there is an idol at the center and the world has be-

come idolatrous of this god-money. Pennies com-

mand! Money commands! All these things com-

mand that serve it, this idol.

And what hap-

pens? To defend

this idol they all

crowd at the center

and the last fall, the

elderly fall because

in this world there

isn’t a place for

them! Some speak

about this habit

of “hidden eutha-

nasia,” of not taking

care of them, of not

taking them into ac-

count… “Yes, we let

them lose…” And

young people fall

who don’t find work

and their dignity.

But think of it, a world where young people

– two generations of young people – don’t have

work. Such a world has no future. Why? Because

they don’t have dignity! It’s difficult to have dignity

without working. This is your suffering here. This is

the prayer you cried out from over there: “Work,”

“Work,” “Work.” It’s a necessary prayer. Work means

dignity; work means bringing the bread home; work

means to love !

To defend this idolatrous economic system, the

“throw away culture” is installed: grandparents are

discarded and young people are discarded. And we

must say “no” to this “throw away culture.” We

must say: “We want a just system! A system that

makes everyone go forward.” We must say: “We

don’t want this globalized economic system, which

does us so much harm! ” Man and woman should

be at the center, as God wishes, not money !

(...) But let us be cunning, because the Lord tells

us that the idols are more cunning than we are. The

Lord invites us to have the cunning of the serpent,

with the gentleness of the dove. We have this cun-

ning and we call things by their name. At this mo-

ment, in our economic system, in our proposed

globalized system of life, there is an idol at the center

and this isn’t right ! Let us struggle all together so

that at the center, at least in our life, are man and

woman, the family, all of us, so that hope can go for-

ward. Don’t let yourselves be robbed of hope !

Pope Francis

“No to an unjust economic system,

without ethics, where money commands”

Our Lady of Bonaria

MICHAEL October/November/December 2013