Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the 'culture of waste.' If a computer breaks it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs and dramas of so many people end up being considered normal. ... When the stock market drops 10 points in some cities, it constitutes a tragedy. Someone who dies is not news, but lowering income by 10 points is a tragedy! In this way people are thrown aside as if they were trash.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes society's focus on profit and consumption over human life and suffering.
Pope Francis highlights the detrimental impact of a consumer-driven culture that values profit above human dignity. He contrasts the tragedy of economic loss with the normalization of poverty and human suffering, illustrating how society prioritizes material concerns over the lives of individuals, thereby treating people as disposable in favor of economic growth and consumption.
In practice
During a discussion about economic policy, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of prioritizing human needs over mere financial metrics.
We are a church of sinners but we must not be afraid of holiness. Do not be afraid to aim for holiness and turn yourselves over to the love of God. Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things but carrying out daily things in an extraordinary way that is with love, joy and faith.
I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.
No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice
We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give.
More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.
This Christmas may we be consistent in living the Gospel, welcoming Jesus into the centre of our lives.
That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,_x000D_ _x000D_ For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;_x000D_ _x000D_ The ornament of beauty is suspect,_x000D_ _x000D_ A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
For most gulls it was not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.
Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.
If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on.
Ideology knows the answer before the question has been asked. Principles are something different: a set of values that have to be adapted to circumstances but not compromised away.
Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause.
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