Vatican City, Jan 12, 2015 / 11:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As Pope Francis stated in a recent interview that love for the poor is not communism, but the Gospel, one of the interview's co-authors asks if the current economic system is “the best possible,” and encourages a discussion of the question. Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi’s interview with Pope Francis was published at the end of their book “Papa Francesco: questa economia uccide” (‘Pope Francis: this economy kills’), recently released in Italian. Tornielli is encouraging discussion of the issue because, he says, “raising the question does not mean being a communist.” In the interview, Pope Francis is certain that his concern for the poor is not a novelty, but that “it stems from the Gospel and is documented even from the first centuries of Christianity.” “If I repeated some passages from the homilies of the Church Fathers in the second or third century, about how we must treat the poor, some would accuse me of giving a Marxist homily,” Pope Francis stressed. He went on to quote from St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostom, demonstrating that concern for the poor stretched back to the Church of the first centuries. “As we can see, this concern for the poor is in the Gospel, it is within the tradition of the Church; it is not an invention of communism and it must not be turned into an ideology, as has sometimes happened before in the course of history,” Pope Francis said. The Pope also underscored that “the Church, when it invites us to overcome what I have called ‘the globalization of indifference’, is free from any political interest and any ideology. It is moved only by Jesus' words, and wants to offer its contribution to build a world where we look after one another and care for each other.” Asked if capitalism is an irreversible system, Pope Francis stated that “globalization has helped many people rise out of poverty, but it has also damned many others to starve to death. It is true that global wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities have also grown, and new poverty arisen.” Pope Francis stressed that he noticed “this system sustain itself through a culture of waste,” since “when money, instead of man, is at the center of the system, when money becomes an idol, men and women are reduced to simple instruments of a social and economic system, which is characterized, better yet dominated, by profound inequalities.” Andrea Tornielli, who is the coordinator of La Stampa’s specialized web-site ‘Vatican Insider’ where portions of the interview are published, was attracted by Pope’s words on the culture of waste and idolatry of money, as he explained in an interview with CNA Jan. 11. “Reading the Pope’s speeches, I became aware that there are really pages of the social teaching of the Church, which seem to be a little forgotten, and not very well known by Christians, especially those Christians who are entrusted with policy.” In Tornielli’s view, the reason for this forgetting lies in history. “In previous years, when Soviet communism still existed and the world was divided on two blocs, the focus was on other topics,” he stated. On the other hand, he acknowledged that both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI have “spoken out very clearly on globalization, poverty, and remedies to poverty.” In his interview, Pope Francis stressed that the culture of waste “leads people to discard babies through abortion. The culture of waste also leads to a hidden euthanasia of older people, who are abandoned, instead of being considered as our memory, our link to our own past, and a source of wisdom for the present. Sometimes I ask myself what the next waste will be. We need to stop before it is too late. Let us stop, please!” Pope Francis also addressed the accusation of being “pauperist,” and he describes pauperism as “a caricature of the Gospel and of poverty itself” – as it was perceived before St. Francis of Assisi came. “St. Francis helped us discover the deep connection between poverty and the way of the Gospel. Jesus states that we cannot serve two masters, God and wealth. Is this pauperism? Jesus tells us what the ‘protocol’ is, on which we will be judged. It is the one we read in chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel: I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was in prison, I was sick, I was naked, and you helped me, clothed me, visited me, took care of me,” Pope Francis pointed out. So, the Pope stressed, “whenever we do this to one of our brothers, we do this to Jesus. This is the touchstone. Is it pauperism? No, it is the Gospel.” “Poverty takes us away from idolatry and from feeling self-sufficient. Zacchaeus, after he met Jesus’ merciful gaze, gave half of his fortune away to the poor. The Gospel’s message is for everyone, the Gospel does not condemn the wealthy, but the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry that makes people indifferent to the call of the poor,” said Pope Francis. Andrea Tornielli hoped that “it would be interesting to raise a discussion within and outside the Catholic world, confronting ideas.” Tornielli said: “My question is: the economic system we are living, is it a dogma? Is it the best system possible? I would say no. But saying it, raising the issue, does not mean to be revolutionary, or communists. It simply means to recover a not-well known patrimony, that is, the treasure of the social teaching of the Church, and to see how this may be applied to the world and to contemporary issues.” In Pope Francis’ words, “I would say that we should not consider this state of things as irreversible. Let us not resign ourselves to it. Let us try and build a society and an economy where man and his welfare are at the center, instead of money.” Read more

Vatican City, Jan 12, 2015 / 07:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told Vatican diplomats that peace – which is a communal responsibility – is the only solution to global issues like war, terrorism and social problems such as unemployment... Read more

Vatican City, Jan 11, 2015 / 02:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis baptized 33 babies at the Sistine Chapel on Sunday, advising families to set an example for their children through reading the Gospels. He said the Word of God is like a mother&rsqu... Read more

Vatican City, Jan 11, 2015 / 11:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis encouraged Christians to remember their baptism with “joy,” as he reflected on the role of Jesus Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist in God’s saving mission for humanity. The Pope said the opening of the heavens when John the Baptist baptized Jesus “ended the time of the ‘closed heavens’ which indicate the separation between God and man, the consequence of sin.” “The open heavens indicate that God gave his grace for the earth to bear fruit. So the earth has become the dwelling of God among men, and each of us has the opportunity to meet the Son of God, experiencing all his love and infinite mercy,” he told tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus Jan. 11. “Sin alienates us from God and breaks the link between Earth and Heaven, thus determining our misery and failure of our lives,” he added. Sunday marked the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Mass readings, which included a reading from the Gospel of Mark’s first chapter about Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River and the descent of the Holy Spirit. When God’s voice proclaims “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased,” the Pope explained, “the Father’s voice proclaims the mystery that lurks in the Man baptized by John the Baptist.” The descent of the Holy Spirit allows Jesus Christ to begin his mission of mankind’s salvation. “Remember this: pray often to the Holy Spirit because he helps us, he gives us strength, he gives us inspiration and helps us move forward!” the Pope exhorted. Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit encourages the spread of the Gospel “to the ends of the earth and of society.” He lamented the existence of Christians and communities who are “deaf” to the voice of the Holy Spirit and are also becoming “mute.” He described them as those who “do not speak and do not evangelize.” The Pope suggested that the Holy Spirit is “the Great Forgotten One in our prayers.” Christians often pray to Jesus and to God the Father, but not so frequently to the Holy Spirit. “And we need to ask for his help, his strength, his inspiration. The Holy Spirit who animated entirely the life and ministry of Jesus is the same Spirit who now leads the Christian life.” Pope Francis encouraged Christians to place their lives as Christians “under the action of the Holy Spirit” as well as to place under the Holy Spirit their baptismal mission to find “the apostolic courage necessary to overcome easy, worldly accommodations.” He also stressed that Jesus is really present in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. “We can recognize him in the faces of our brothers, especially the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the refugees: they are living flesh of the suffering Christ and the visible image of the invisible God.” After the Angelus prayers, Pope Francis encouraged prayers for the imminent start of his latest apostolic voyages. “This evening I will depart on an apostolic visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Thanks for your prayers in this shared endeavor, thanks very much! And I ask you please to accompany me with prayers and I also ask the Sri Lankans and Filipinos who are here at Rome who have specially prayed for me for this visit,” he said. Pope Francis concluded by asking the faithful to “remember with joy” their baptism. In a morning Mass at Vatican City's Sistine Chapel, the Pope baptized 33 babies. Read more

Vatican City, Jan 10, 2015 / 02:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After losing a leg during Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, Wilfrid Macena became a prosthetic technician and founded an amputee soccer team--and says his life can’t be topped years... Read more