Pope warns against the temptation to embrace false idols

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday reflected on how we are created in the image and likeness of the Creator, and warned us – God’s children – against the temptation of undermining our intrinsic dignity by embracing false idols.  

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The Pope’s words came during a speech to members of the Italian Biblical Association whom he received in the Vatican on the occasion of National Biblical Week.

Pope Francis remarked on the theme chosen for the occasion which focusses on the male-female polarity in the Scriptures.

He recalled the cycle of catechesis held by St. John Paul II during the first part of his pontificate regarding the many aspects of the relationship between man and woman stemming from the analysis of biblical texts. 

The Pope said that he himself, during a Catechesis last year, had occasion to stress that “God, after having created the universe and all living beings, created his masterpiece, the human being, whom He made in his own image: ‘in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them’” (Gen 1:27).

And inviting those present to reflect on how we are created in the image and likeness of the Creator, he said that it is essential to note the differences that exist within creation.

This, he said, helps us to understand the dignity of all men and women, a dignity which has its roots in the same Creator. 

The Pope said we must never forget we are all children of God and we are not only shaped by Him, but guided by Him just as a father does with his children.

He warned against the possibility of ‘degrading’ this dignity that has been granted to us by God and said this happens when we embrace idolatry, when we make place in our hearts for false idols – as narrated in the Bible passage about the exodus from Egypt when Moses, tempted by the devil, built an idol made of gold (Ex 32). 

This idol of gold, Pope Francis said, symbolizes the attractive force of wealth, and the fact that man loses his dignity when riches take the place of God in his heart.

Reiterating the preciousness of the gift of dignity, Pope Francis reflected on the possibility of sharing this dignity so that it triggers a positive reciprocity and he invited those present to ask the question ‘How can I make the other feel worthy? How can I "infect" the other with dignity?”

When one despises, segregates or discriminates, the Pope concluded, he does not “share or infect the other” with  his God-given dignity