Pope Francis on Wednesday
issued one of his most thunderous condemnations yet of political
corruption, saying dirty pols and their dodgy business
associates would face an ultimate reckoning with God.
The denunciation was seen as extremely topical for Italy as
the country veers from one graft scandal to another, whether
involving next year's Expo flagship world's fair in Milan or
surrounding the huge MOSE dams in Venice.
It also came after repeated criticism of the dark side of
global capitalism in statements that have spurred media outlets
ranging from Time to Rolling Stone to hail him as a Jesus-like
revolutionary.
The corrupt should "never forget" that they will have to
reckon with God, Francis said at Wednesday's regular weekly
general audience in St Peter's Square.
"They will not take with them their money or their power or
pride," Francis told some 10,000 people at the audience in a
baking-hot St Peter's.
Francis warned corrupt persons in positions of power that
they would "do well to fear God's justice and repent" during a
portion of his address dedicated to the seventh and final of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit: fear of the Lord.
"Departing repeatedly from his prepared text in Italian
for emphasis," Vatican Radio said, "the Holy Father spoke of the
fear of the Lord, not as a servile or supine disposition before
the Lord, but as the grateful response of people who have first
been loved by the infinite love of God the Father".
Francis added that arms manufacturers and people
traffickers are likewise "unhappy" and will face a similar
divine reckoning.
FRANCIS CALLS FOR END TO CHILD LABOUR.
The pope also called for an end to the "plague" of child
labour during his general audience.
"Ten million children are forced to work in conditions of
degradation, exposed to forms of slavery and exploitation, such
as abuse, mistreatment and discrimination," Francis said.
"I hope that the international community can expand the
social protection of minors to weaken this plague".
The pope returned to his usual activities on Wednesday
after clearing his schedule to rest up Tuesday, having suffering
what the Vatican called an "indisposition" Monday following a
gruelling Sunday of prayer with Mideast leaders.
GETS PANDA CAR.
Also Wednesday, Francis got a Panda car from workers at a
southern Italian Fiat plant.
The Pomigliano d'Arco assembly-liners got the idea when the
pope used the same make to get around Assisi last October.
They wrote to Francis with their offer, and he took the
keys at his general audience.
A committee of the wives of Pomigliano automobile plant
workers urged the pope to refuse the Panda.
"The acritical acceptance of the 'gift' would offend both
the living and the memory of the workers who committed suicide
in Pomigliano and Nola," read a statement.
The committee stated that the "gift" was "not from the
workers, it was from Fiat" and that the workers who had brought
the car to him had been paid for doing so by the company.
The gift came from "CEO (Sergio) Marchionne, who in a
single year takes home as much as all of his workers put
together", said the committee.
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