There is no place in the
Catholic Church for careerists or "dirty" money grubbers, Pope
Francis said Monday in his latest denunciation of people who use
spiritual status for material benefit.
"Those who want to climb mountains should go somewhere
else," the pope said at a Mass in the Vatican.
He slammed "those who follow Jesus for money, who try to
make economic profit from their parishes, from the Christian
community, from hospitals, from colleges".
Every period in Church history, Francis noted, has seen
"real money grubbers who have made so much money.
"They presented themselves as benefactors but they took so
much money and not always clean money," said the pontiff, who is
trying to clean up Church finances.
Francis has been warning about people trying to use the
Church to satisfy their desire for power or money ever since he
became pontiff in March last year after the shock resignation of
Benedict XVI.
A year ago, on May 8, he stressed that careerism is harmful
to the Church, especially when used as "a springboard for
personal ambitions".
The pope invited a crowd in St Peter's, including 800 nuns
from parishes around the world, to "think of the damage caused
to the people of God, men and women of the Church, by careerists
and climbers".
In his homily in St Martha's House Monday, Francis again
warned that there are people in the Church that follow Jesus for
vanity or thirst for power and wealth, and he prayed the Lord to
give us the grace to follow him for love.
Francis took his cue from the Gospel reading of the day in
which Jesus tells a group of people who were looking for him
that they are doing so " not because you saw signs, but because
you ate the loaves and were filled".
This episode, the Pope said, invites us to ask ourselves
whether we are following the Lord for personal gain or because
we love Him, because, he said, we are all sinners, and we need
to make an effort and look into ourselves in the way we live our
Faith.
Jesus - Pope Francis pointed out - mentions three attitudes
that we must avoid when we follow God or search for Him. The
first - he said - is vanity. In particular he refers to those
who are in public positions who give alms or fast because they
want to be seen doing so:
"This is not the right attitude. Vanity is not good, vanity
causes us to slip on our pride and everything ends there. So I
ask myself the question: and me? How do I follow Jesus? When I
do good, do I do it under the public eye, or do I do it in
private?"
And the Pope said, "I also think of pastors, because a
pastor who is vain does not do good to the people of God: even
if he is a priest or a bishop, he does not follow Jesus if he is
besotted by vanity".
And the other attitude Jesus warns against - the Pope
continued - is thirst for power:
"Some of those who follow Jesus do so in search of power.
Perhaps they do not do so with full consciousness. A clear
example of this is to be found in John and James, the sons of
Zebedee who asked Jesus to seat them in places of honour, one on
His right and one on His left in his Kingdom. And in the Church
there are climbers, people driven by ambition! There are many of
them! But if you like climbing go to the mountains and climb
them: it is healthier! Do not come to Church to climb! And Jesus
scolds people with this kind of ambitious attitude in the
Church".
Pope Francis noted that only when the Holy Spirit came, did
the disciples change. But, he warned, sin remains in our
Christian lives and we must continue to ask ourselves the
question: "in what way do I follow Christ? Only for Him, even to
the Cross, or do I do it for power? Do I use the Church, the
Christian community, the parish, the diocese to gain some
power?"
The third thing that takes us away from the righteousness of
our intentions - Pope Francis said - is money:
"Those who follow Jesus for money, trying to take economic
advantage of the parish, of the diocese, of their Christian
community, of the hospital, or the college… Let us think of the
first Christian community that was swayed by this intention:
Simon, Ananias and Sapphira… this has been a temptation right
from the beginning. And since, we have heard of so many good
Catholics, good Christians, friends and benefactors of the
Church that - it has been revealed - acted for personal profit.
They presented themselves as benefactors of the Church and made
money on the side..."
Pope Francis concluded asking the Lord for the grace to
follow Jesus with the right intentions: without vanity, without
desire for power, without lusting for wealth.
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