This is an old sermon delivered by Pope in 2003 but I think it's worth reading again.
Pope Francis delivered an impassioned sermon yesterday, during which
he quoted a passage from the bible that said some sinners deserve to be
tied to a rock and cast into the sea.
The Argentinian religious
leader said Christians who donated money to the church but stole from
the state were leading a "double life" and were sinners who should be
punished.
Quoting from the Gospel of St Luke in the New
Testament, he said: “Jesus says 'It would be better for him if a
millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea',”
because "where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be".
Without
directly mentioning corruption within the Catholic Church, in his
sermon he described those involved in corrupt practices as “whitewashed
tombs”, explaining that “they appear beautiful from the outside, but
inside they are full of dead bones and putrefaction.” He said: "A life
based on corruption is varnished putrefaction.”
His sermon came
during his daily morning Mass inside Casa Santa Marta, the guest house
he has lived in since being elected pontiff in March.
On Friday,
he also condemned corruption, asserting parents who earned through
bribes or corrupt practices had "lost their dignity", and fed their
children "unclean bread".
He said: "Some of you might say: 'But
this man only did what everyone does!'. But no, not everyone! Some
company administrators, some public administrators, some government
administrators… perhaps there are not even very many. But it’s that
attitude of the shortcut, of the most comfortable way to earn a living.
"These
poor people who have lost their dignity in the habit of bribes take
with them not the money they have earned, but only their lack of
dignity!"
He compared receiving bribes as "like a drug" as people become "dependent" on the habit of bribes.
The
Pope has made clear his intentions to tackle corruption within the
Vatican and held a meeting with the Church's highest ranking whistleblower
in October, after telling the Church in May that it “must go forward...
with a heart of poverty, not a heart of investment or of a businessman”
reminding it that "St Peter did not have a bank account”.
Source: Independent
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