Its power is so great it can even “rob you of your faith; it weakens it and you lose it!”. “The devil always takes this path of temptation: wealth , to feel sufficient; vanity, to feel important , and , in the end , pride: pride is his language".

Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - " You can not serve God and money ", " greed , in fact, is the root of all evil ", "it corrupts" and "its power is so great, it can make you deviate from [the path of ] faith", it even "robs you of faith, it weakens it and you lose it". And when one does something for money that countermands the first commandment, he or she "is guilty of idolatry."



This was Pope Francis reflection during his homily at morning mass in Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the words of St. Paul on the relationship "between the road of Jesus Christ and that of money".

As reported by Vatican Radio, the Pope noted that there is something in "the attitude of love for money that distances us from God." There are "so many diseases, so many sins , but Jesus greatly emphasizes this one" , "love of money , in fact, is the root of all evil ." Taken by "this desire , some have wandered away from the faith and have brought many torments upon themselves". "Money is so powerful, that it makes us deviate from the faith", it even "robs us of our faith, weakens it and makes us lose it".

"But money also sickens our thoughts, it even sickens our faith and makes it chose another path. These idle words , useless discussions ... It goes even further ... It gives rise to envy, strife , slander , evil suspicions, the conflicts of men with corrupt minds and destitute of the truth , who consider religion as a source of income. ' I'm a Catholic , I go to Mass , because that gives me a certain status . I am well considered... but underneath I take care of my own interests, right? I cultivate money. Here a word is used, which we find very, very frequently in the newspapers : 'Men of corrupt mind . 'Money corrupts! There is no way out" .

If you choose "the road of money," he added , "in the end you will be a corrupt " . Money "is this seductive that it slowly leads you to slip towards perdition".

"You can not serve God and money .' You can not : either one or the other ! And this is not communism , eh! This is pure Gospel ! These are the words of Jesus! What happens with money? Money gives you a degree of prosperity in the beginning. Okay ... but then you begin to feel important and this is vanity. We read in the Psalm that this is vanity. This vanity is not needed , but you feel like an important person : that is vanity. And the pride of vanity, pride. Three steps: wealth, vanity and pride . "



"No one can escape with the money". However, he noted , "the devil always takes this path of temptation :wealth, to feel sufficient; vanity, to feel important , and , in the end, pride: Pride is his language".



"But, Father , I read the Ten Commandments and they do not speak ill of money. Against which Commandment do we sin when we do something for money? Against the first! It is the sin of idolatry. Here's why: because money becomes the idol you worship! And that is why Jesus tells us: You can not serve the idol money and the Living God: either one or the other . The early Fathers of the Church - I am speaking of the third century, more or less 200 or 300 AD - used a strong word: ' money is the devil's dung. And it is so, because it makes us idolaters, and sickens our mind with pride and makes us maniacs of idle issues and distances us from the faith, it corrupts ' . "



St. Paul tells us to avoid these things, but to strive "for justice, godliness, faith, love ." And patience, "against vanity and pride " and "meekness ." This is "the road of God, not that of the idolatrous power that money can give". Humility is"the road to serve God ." " May the Lord - he concluded - help us all to not fall into the trap of idolatry of money."