Church social teachings help faithful avoid being 'slaves to money,' Pope says

November 22, 2013

The social teachings of the Catholic Church help people to avoid the temptations toward “becoming slaves to money,” Pope Francis said in a video message to a conference on Catholic social doctrine, which is being held in Verona, Italy this weekend.

The Pope applauded the choice of a theme for the Verona conference: “Fewer inequalities, more differences.” That theme, he said, is “an expression of personal talents and avoids the mortification of uniformity which paradoxically increases inequality.”

The Pope said: “Those who work in economics and finance are certainly attracted by profit and, if they are not careful, they risk placing themselves in the service of profit itself, thus becoming slaves to money.” The Church’s social teachings, he said, offer appropriate caution and guidance, helping people to avoid the dangers. He remarked: “It takes courage, thought and the strength of faith to stay within the market while guided by a conscience that places at the center the dignity of the person, not the idol of money.”

Pope Francis repeated an observation that he has made several times recently: that a healthy society should value and respect its youngest and oldest members. “Nowadays,” he lamented, “the young and the elderly are considered dispensable as they do not correspond to the productive logic of a functionalist vision of society, they do not respond to any useful criterion of investment.”

 

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Further information:

• The Church's Social Doctrine: A Guide To Unmasking the Idol of Money (VIS)