Pope Francis: audience, “the power of human beings, even the greatest empires, pass and disappear”. “Wealth remains here”

“There are those who have the kingdoms of this world: wealth and comfort. But these are kingdoms that end”. Pope Francis said this during his General Audience catechesis today to explain that “the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit”, as the first Beatitude in Matthew’s Gospel proclaims. “The power of human beings, even the greatest empires, pass and disappear”, Pope Francis warned, adding off the cuff: “So many times we see in newscasts or in newspapers that that strong, powerful ruler was overthrown: he was there yesterday, today he’s gone. The wealth of this world passes, money too. The elderly taught us that shrouds have no pockets. I have never seen a funeral procession with a haulage lorry: nobody takes anything with them. Wealth remains here”. Only “those who know how to love the true good more than themselves truly reign”, the Pope remarked. “This is the spiritual power, this is the power of God”. “How has Christ shown Himself to be powerful?”, Pope Francis asked: “Because He knew how to do what the kings of the earth do not do: to give His life for human beings”. And this is true power”, the Pontiff added off the cuff: “The power of fraternity, the power of charity, the power of love, the power of humility. This is what Christ did. True freedom lies in this. The one who has this power of humility, of service, of fraternity is free. The poverty praised by the Beatitudes lies at the service of this freedom. For there is a poverty that we must accept, that of our own being; and a poverty that we must seek instead, a detachment from earthly goods to be free and able to love”. “We must always seek this freedom of the heart, which has its roots in the poverty of ourselves”, he concluded off the cuff.
Valentina Bombelli