Pope Francis on Friday blasted
the greed of the rich at a slum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on
the final day of the first leg of his six-day tour of Africa,
before heading off to Uganda.
Francis admitted that the Vatican itself was not immune
from corruption.
Francis blasted rich people who accumulate money and
power, thus creating social marginalisation, during a visit on
Friday to Kangemi, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi.
"Urban marginalisation stems from the wounds caused by the
minorities who concentrate power and riches in their own hands
and selfishly squander resources, while a growing majority have
to seek refuge in abandoned, polluted, discarded areas on the
outskirts," the pope said.
Francis then told young Kenyan people to reject the "sugar
of corruption" during a meeting at Nairobi's Kasarani's stadium
on Friday.
"Don't get a taste for it," the Argentine pontiff said.
"Don't accept this sugar called corruption. Corruption
takes away joy.
"Corrupt people do not live in peace. Corruption is not a
path of life. It's a path of death".
Pope Francis, who will leave Kenya later on Friday and fly
to Uganda for the second part of his Africa trip, admitted that
the Holy See was not immune from the plague of graft.
"Corruption is in all the institutions, corruption is
everywhere, there's corruption in the Vatican too," said the
pope, who will also visit the Central African Republic (CAR)
during this week's trip.
The Argentine pontiff has repeatedly spoken out against
against corruption, including within the Church, since being
elected the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics in 2013.
The Vatican administration and its bank have been hit by
several scandals in recent years.
This month it was hit by the so-called VatiLeaks 2 scandal
and the related publication of two books using leaked Holy See
papers documenting alleged waste, mismanagement and lavish
spending by clergymen.
Among the cases to hit the headlines was the 2013 arrest
of prelate Monsignor Nunzio Scarano.
Scarano, the former head of analytic accounts at the Holy
See's asset-management agency APSA, is suspected involvement in
the laundering money through accounts at the Vatican Bank and of
trying to illegally smuggle 20 million euros into Italy for rich
friends.
In other remarks aimed at delving into the root causes of
the radicalisation that boosts recruiting to Islamic State, the
pope said society should try to create more educational and
employment opportunities for young people to help lessen the
pull of religious radicalism on disaffected but idealistic
youth.
The pope posed the question: why do "young people full of
ideals let themselves be swept up by religious radicalism in
this way, leaving their families, their lives?".
He continued: "it's a question we should put to all people
in authority: if a young man or woman does not have a job and
cannot study, what can they do?".
Francis landed in Uganda later, his plane touching down at
Entebbe Aiport at around 15:30.
During his two days in Uganda, following in the footsteps
of Pope Paul VI, Francis will visit shrines in memory of
martyred Christians at Munyonyo and Namugongo.
Moving onto the Central African Republic Sunday, the pope
will highlight inter-religious dialogue in the capital Bangui,
where the Interfaith Peace Platform is seeking to build bridges
between Christians and Muslims.
The pontiff flies back to Rome from CAR Monday.
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