VATICAN (CNS): In an interview with the Italian news agency Adnkronos, published on October 30, Pope Francis called corruption is an “ancient evil” that continues to plague the Catholic Church in different ways.
Offering his thoughts on several issues, including the nature of corruption given recent allegations of financial malfeasance involving the Vatican, the pope lamented that despite past and present efforts to root it out “unfortunately, corruption is a cyclical story that repeats itself” until “someone comes along to clean and tidy up.”
The pope said that while “the Church is and remains strong, the issue of corruption is a profound problem.”
Pope Francis
He continued, “But then it starts again, waiting for someone else to come along to put an end to this degradation” adding that money, as the early fathers of the Church and St. Francis called it, is “the devil’s dung.”
The pope said that while “the Church is and remains strong, the issue of corruption is a profound problem.”
Citing St. Ambrose’s assertion that “the Church has always been a casta meretrix (chaste prostitute),” the pope said that although the vast majority of people in the Church follow “the right path,” it is “undeniable that personalities of various types and depth, clerics and many fake lay friends of the Church, have helped to squander the resources and property, not of the Vatican but of the faithful.”
“I am struck by the gospel reading when the Lord asks us to choose: either follow God or follow money,” the pope said, stressing, “Jesus said that it is not possible to go after both.”
Pope Francis said when he met with retired Pope Benedict XVI shortly after succeeding him, he gave him a big box and said, “’Everything is in here; there are the documents with the most difficult situations. I have come this far, I have intervened in this situation, I have removed these people and now, it’s your turn.’”
Asked about his current relationship with the 93-year-old Pope Benedict, Pope Francis said he regards him as both “a father and a brother,” which is why he signs letters to him:”Filially and fraternally yours.”
“I often visit him up there” at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, the pope said. “And if I see him a little less recently it is only because I do not want to tire him. The relationship is good, very good. We agree on what things need to be done. Benedict is a good man; he is holiness incarnate.”
Pope Francis also said that contrary to reports of an alleged rift between him and his predecessor, “there are no problems between us.”
While it is uncertain whether his efforts to weed out corruption and lead the Church will bear fruit, Pope Francis said that he knows he must do it and that “I have been called to do it.”
In the end, “the Lord will say whether I have done well or whether I have done wrong,” he said. “Sincerely, I am not very optimistic, but I trust in God and in people faithful to God.”
