'An idolatry that kills': Pope Francis on greed

Vatican City, Oct 23, 2017 / 09:20 am

Pope Francis preached Monday about the idolatry of money, which causes us to ignore those in need, allowing others to go hungry and die while we turn money and worldly possessions into false gods.

Today there are people who are greedy for more money and worldly goods, people who have "so much," but walk by "hungry children who have no medicine, who have no education, who are abandoned," he said Oct. 23 during his homily at Mass at the chapel of the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta.

This is "an idolatry that kills," that makes "human sacrifices" to the god of money, the Pope said.

"This idolatry causes so many people to starve," he stated, pointing to the example of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people who have been displaced from their home in Burma, also known as Myanmar, due to ethno-religious persecution.

There are 800,000 Rohingya people in refugee camps, the Pope said. And of these, 200,000 are children. They are "malnourished, without medicine," he said.

"Even today this happens," he emphasized, noting how our prayers against idolatry "must be strong."

We should pray: "Lord, please, touch the hearts of these people who worship… the god of money. Touch also my heart so I do not fall into" the same thing, that I can see everything clearly, he said.

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group who reside in the Rakhine state of majority-Buddhist Burma. They have been denied citizenship for nearly 40 years, and their persecution by the government has intensified in recent years.

Pope Francis has spoken out on behalf of the minority many times in recent years. In November he will visit Burma, as well as Bangladesh, where he will undoubtedly speak out for the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.

In his homily, he reflected on the words of Christ in the day's Gospel from St. Luke: "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions."

God who ultimately puts a limit on our attachment to money, Pope Francis said, since at the end of life it becomes worthless.

Many men worship money and make money their god, he continued, but their life has no meaning. "Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God," Francis said, quoting from the Gospel of Luke.

God underlines this with "gentleness" in the end, he said. To make ourselves rich in what matters to God, "that is the only way. Wealth, [yes], but in God."