Pope Francis: The Corrupt Love Themselves And Harm The Church

Sinners and saints were the focus of Francis’ mass in St. Martha’s House this morning.

Francis spoke about the corrupt who “were sinners like all of us, but they have taken a step beyond that, as if they were confirmed in their sin”.

The mass was attended by priests and staff of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and a group of Gentlemen of His Holiness. The Vatican Radio website has published excerpts from the Pope’s homily.

The corrupt “were sinners like all of us, but they have taken a step beyond that, as if they were confirmed in their sin: they don’t need God! They make a special god: they themselves are god. They are corrupt,” Francis said.

“This is a danger for us, too,” he added. In the “Christian communities,” the corrupt think only of their own group: “Good, good. It’s about us - they think - but, in fact, ‘they are only out for themselves.” Like Judas, who was “a greedy sinner” and “ended in corruption.

The road of autonomy is a dangerous road: the corrupt are very forgetful, have forgotten this love, with which the Lord made the vineyard, has made them! They severed the relationship with this love! And they become worshipers of themselves. How bad are the corrupt in the Christian community! May the Lord deliver us from sliding down this road of corruption,” Francis prayed.

The Pope started off his homily by commenting on the parable of the wicked tenants which focused on “the three models of Christians in the Church: sinners, corrupt persons; and the saints. There is no need to talk too much about sinners because we are all sinners. We recognize this from the inside,” he continued, “and we know what a sinner is. If any one of us does not feel that way, he should make a visit to a spiritual doctor” because “something is wrong.”

The parable, however, presents us with another figure, the figure of those who want “to take possession of the vineyard, and who have lost the relationship with the Master of the vineyard,” Francis explained.