VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - APRIL 14: Pope Francis attends a Mass in the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls on April 14, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis took possession of Saint Paul outside the Walls, another of the four major Roman Basilicas. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images) (2013 Getty Images)
Pope Francis has denounced the global financial system, blasting the "cult of money" that he says is tyrannizing the poor and turning humans into expendable consumer goods.
In his first major speech on the subject, Francis demanded Thursday that financial and political leaders reform the global financial system to make it more ethical and concerned for the common good. He said: "Money has to serve, not to rule!"
"There is a need for financial reform along ethical lines that would produce in its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone," Pope Francis said, according to official Vatican Radio.
The Pope went on to say, “the majority of the men and women of our time continue to live daily in situations of insecurity, with dire consequences… People have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way.”
Pope Francis explained that in his opinion one cause of this situation was the relationship people have with money today.The worship of the golden calf of old, has a new image, he said according to Vatican Radio, “in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.
"Human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away,” he went on to say.
It's a message Francis delivered on many occasions when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, and it's one that was frequently stressed by retired Pope Benedict XVI.
Francis, who has made clear the poor are his priority, made the comments as he greeted his first group of new ambassadors accredited to the Holy See from Kyrgyzstan, Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, and the Grand Duchy of Luxemberg.
Pope Francis tweeted May 8th,
"I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance, says Jesus. This is where true wealth is found, not in material things!"
Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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