Pope
Francis must have been the most radical and
outspoken Vicar of Christ in the last 100 years. He has been, as one international journalist
put it, messing up the protocols of the church and rarely hesitated to speak
his mind on important social issues of the day. His sweeping and controversial
statements on various issues like the state of the church, the nature of God,
homosexuality, proselytism, sexual abuse, freedom of religion and spirituality
could reinvent or redefine Catholicism and the Catholic faith as we know it.
But if I would choose one
lesson from the learnings that I got from his sermons and the Papal visit, it
would be his constant determined effort to root out corruption and cronyism in
the minds of man, the Catholic Church and governments. The pontiff might have been briefed of the
extent of corruption in the Philippines that he would challenge our top
political officials to discard thievery at all levels of society. In Pope Francis words “I hope that this
prophetic summons will challenge everyone…to reject every form of corruption
which diverts resources from the poor.”
The statement resonated with many. A netizen would tweet “It’s quite
embarrassing that the Pope has to highlight corruption in his speech. But yes,
we needed that.”
Last year, in Vatican,
Francis delivered quite a fiery discourse on corruption, the corrupt and citing
Jesus words from the Bible. Quoting from the Gospel of St. Luke in the New
Testament, the bishop of Rome said ““Jesus says: It would be better for him
[Francis referring to the corrupt, corruption as his context] if a millstone
were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea.”
Pope Francis described the
burglars, thieves, bandits and crooks in government as:
“Christians living a double
life” [giving money to the Church while stealing resources from and for the
poor]
“Whitewash tombs” [they
appear stunning from the outside but ugly and nasty inside; that a life based
on corruption was varnished putrefaction]
And:
“Those who take kickbacks
have lost their dignity and give their children dirty bread”.
His words were strong against
hypocrites “who used tainted money to shower their children with gifts and send
them to expensive schools.” The Pope considers corruption as a “worse evil than
sin” and compared it to bad breath as “someone who has it hardly ever realizes
it, other people notice have to tell him.”
Corruption for Francis requires “more than forgiveness, this evil needs
to be cured” as “it is an evil greater than sin.”
He however believes that the
corrupt could still change if they accept and live the teachings of the
merciful and compassionate Christ. The
Pope prayed and I wish “that the Lord may change the hearts of those who
worship the kickback god.”
engagedforesight.com
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