Healing The World Series: Pope Francis' General Audience (August 19, August 26)

Pope Francis preaches about the dignity of labor and justice

for workers on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker May 1, 2020,

in the chapel of his Vatican residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

(Credit: CNS photo/Vatican Media.)

O

n Aug. 5, 2020, Pope Francis started with a new catechesis series on healing the world from the physical and social ills vis-à-vis the coronavirus pandemic

. In his earlier encyclical Lumen Fidei the Pope reminds each one of us: “In the absence of light everything becomes confused; it is impossible to tell good from evil, or the road to our destination from other roads which take us in endless circles, going nowhere. There is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim” (LF 3-4).

Catechesis 3 (August 19, 2020)

Notable quotes:

“The preferential option for the poor is at the centre of the Gospel. And the first to do this was Jesus; we heard this in the reading from the Letter to the Corinthians which was read at the beginning. Since He was rich, He made Himself poor to enrich us. He made Himself one of us and for this reason, at the centre of the Gospel, there is this option, at the centre of Jesus’ proclamation.”

“Faith, hope and love necessarily push us towards this preference for those most in need, which goes beyond necessary assistance (cf. EG 198). Indeed it implies walking together, letting ourselves be evangelised by them, who know the suffering Christ well, letting ourselves be “infected” by their experience of salvation, by their wisdom and by their creativity (see ibid). Sharing with the poor means mutual enrichment. And, if there are unhealthy social structures that prevent them from dreaming of the future, we must work together to heal them, to change them.”

Catechesis 4 (August 26, 2020)

Notable quotes: The universal destination of goods and the virtue of hope

“In the face of the pandemic and its social consequences, many risk losing hope. In this time of uncertainty and anguish, I invite everyone to welcome the gift of hope that comes from Christ. It is He who helps us navigate the tumultuous waters of sickness, death and injustice, which do not have the last word over our final destination.”

“These symptoms of inequality reveal a social illness; it is a virus that comes from a sick economy. And we must say it simply: the economy is sick. It has become ill. It is sick. It is the fruit of unequal economic growth—this is the illness: the fruit of unequal economic growth— that disregards fundamental human values.”

“Property and money are instruments that can serve mission. However, we easily transform them into ends, whether individual or collective. And when this happens, essential human values are affected. The homo sapiens is deformed and becomes a species of homo œconomicus—in a detrimental sense—a species of man that is individualistic, calculating and domineering.”