Pope hits out against those seeking vanity, power, money in Church
May 05, 2014 - Pope Francis on Monday hit out against Christians and Church men who
follow Jesus for vanity, power and money, urging them to follow Him out of love even
to the Cross. The Pope’s remarks came in his homily at the morning Mass in the Casa
Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. Taking his cue from the day’s Gospel on Jesus
rebuking the people for seeking him because he fed them with loaves and fish, the
Pope pointed to three wrong attitudes in following Jesus. The first is vanity – such as by the so-called ‘managers’ who give alms or fast to attract attention like a peacock. The Pope said this is dangerous as it soon slips into pride and arrogance which is the end of everything. This is particularly bad for a conceited priest or bishop, as it harms the people of God. Another attitude that Jesus condemns is power. Noting that that in the Church some unconsciously look out for power (like John and James, the sons of Zebedee in the Gospel), Pope Francis said it’ll do these people good to go up north and do some mountain climbing… but not in the Church. Jesus reprimands these climbers who seek power. The Pope said it’s good to ask oneself, “Do I follow Jesus for His sake even to the Cross, or do I use the Church, the community, the parish, the diocese to gain power?” Pope Francis then pointed to the third vain motive in following Jesus – that of money. Recalling the cases of Simon, Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts of the Apostles, the Pope said there are those who follow Jesus for money and with money, gaining economically from the parish, the diocese, the Christian community, hospital, college etc… The Holy Father said this temptation was there from the beginning, in the early Christian community, and we come across many good Catholics, Christians, friends and benefactors of the Church, including those honoured, only to discover later they were opportunists who had made ‘obscure deals’ and made a lot of money, which is not always clean.
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