Francis warns against 'holy corruption'

(ANSA) - Vatican City, November 20 - The Catholic Church should not adore the "holy kickback" but take strength and joy from the word of Jesus, Pope Francis said at a Vatican Mass Friday. "There is always in the Church the temptation of corruption," he said. This happens when, "instead of being attached to faith in the Lord Jesus," people are "attached to money and power". Francis quoted the passage from the gospel of Luke in which Jesus drives out the merchants from the Temple.
    "Jesus does not drive out the priests, the scribes; he drives out the ones doing business, the merchants in the Temple," he said.
    "But the high priests and the scribes were linked to them: the 'holy kickback' was there! They took from them, they were attached to money and worshiped this saint," Francis insisted. "Where there is Jesus there is no room for worldliness, there is no room for corruption!" he said.
    "And this is the battle each one of us must fight, this is the daily battle of the Church: always Jesus, always with Jesus, always hanging from his lips, to hear his word; and never to seek security in another master. Jesus said it is not possible to serve two masters: or God, or wealth; or God, or power," the pope concluded. Francis, who has repeatedly warned against worldly temptations, is trying to reform the Vatican Bank and rein in spending by prelates.
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