Pope at Mass warns against
idolatry of money in the Church
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| Pope Francis at Mass at the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, on November 9, 2018. (Vatican Media) |
At Mass, Friday morning, Pope Francis invited Christians to
respect churches as the house of God and not turn them into marketplaces of
money and worldliness.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis on Friday urged that churches be given due
respect as the “house of God” and not be transformed into markets or social
lounges dominated by “worldliness”. Celebrating his morning Mass at
the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, he warned that churches risked
transforming themselves into marketplaces with sacraments on sale, which are
free.
He was reflecting the Gospel reading on the feast of the
Dedication of Rome’s St. John Lateran Basilica, where Jesus cleanses the temple
of Jerusalem of all buyers and sellers, warning them against turning his
Father’s house into a marketplace.
Idols enslave
Jesus noted that the temple was populated by idolaters - men
ready to serve "money" instead of "God".
"Behindmoney there is an idol,” the Pope said, adding idols are
always of gold that enslaves.
Pope Francis wondered if we treat our “temples, our
churches” as the house of God, the house of prayer, a place of meeting the
Lord, and whether the priests treat it like that.
The Pope recalled instances of a price list for the
sacraments that are free of cost. To those who argue that it is an
offering, the Pope said, offerings are to be put secretly into the box without
anyone noticing it. He warned that there is this danger even today.
Pope Francis admitted the Church needs to be maintained by
the faithful but this is done in the offering box, not with a price list.
Worldliness
Another danger that the Pope warned against was the
temptation of worldliness. He noted that in some celebrations or
commemorations in the Church one cannot make out if the house of God is a place
of worship or a social parlour.
The Pope said that some church celebrations slip into
worldliness. Celebrations must be beautiful but not worldly, because, he
said, worldliness depends on the god of money. He called this idolatry
and said it should make us think about our zeal for our churches and the
respect that we give when we enter them.
Heart – the temple of God
Pope Francis then drew attention to the First Letter of
Saint Paul to the Corinthians which speaks about our hearts as the temple of
God. Despite our sinfulness, the Pope said, each one of us should ask
ourselves whether our hearts are "worldly and idolatrous".
The Holy Father said it is not the question of what our sins
are, but of finding out if there is the lord of money within us. If
there is a sin, he said, we have the Lord, the merciful God, who forgives if we
go to Him. But if there is other lord, the god money, we are an
idol worshipper, a corrupt person, and not a former sinner.
The Pope concluded saying the core of corruption is
precisely an idolatry, of having sold one’s soul to the god of money, to the
god of power.
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