Pope Francis greets newly accredited Ambassadors to the Holy See

26 May 2017

Pope Francis greeted newly accredited Ambassadors to the Holy See on Thursday morning, telling them that dialogue and not the use of force, was the pathway to peace.

Addressing the newly accredited Ambassadors to the Holy See from Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago, Pope Francis said the international scene, as he called it, was “at present marked by great complexity”, adding nor was it free “of dark clouds.”

The Holy Father said that this situation required “a greater awareness of the approaches and actions needed to pursue the path of peace and to lessen tensions.”  He noted that among the factors aggravating problems is “an economic and financial system that, rather than being at the service of people, is set up principally to serve itself and to evade oversight by public authorities.”

He went on to say that, “those authorities are responsible for the common good, yet they lack the means necessary to moderate the disproportionate appetites of the few.”

Men and women, not money, the Pope stressed “must once more become the goal of the economy”.

Speaking about conflicts around the world, the Holy Father noted how they were being exacerbated by  fundamentalism, “the abuse of religion to justify a thirst for power, the manipulation of God’s holy name to advance by any means possible one’s own plans to gain power, he said.”

This story first appeared at Vatican Radio, to continue reading the full article please click here.

 

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