Pope: greed, the "root" of the current global economic crisis
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Greed, which views possession and appearance as the most important things in the world, is the real root of the current global economic crisis. Benedict XVI again today pointed to a "vice" of the human heart as the profound cause of the economic situation. He has expressed this view repeatedly, most recently in Luanda, during his trip to Africa, when he spoke of "the greed that corrupts the heart of man," or at the beginning of April, when in a message addressed to the G20 summit he wrote that the origin of the crisis there is also a "failure of correct ethical behavior."
Today, Benedict XVI took the opportunity to talk about greed from Ambrose Autpertus, an 8th century author who is "not very well known," as he said to the 35,000 people present in St. Peter's Square for the general audience.
Autpertus was from a "distinguished family" in Provence, and served in the court of Pepin as the tutor of the future emperor Charlemagne. After joining the entourage of Pope Stephen II, who had gone to visit the Franks, he went to Italy, and stayed at the Benedictine abbey of San Vincenzo in Volturno "an oasis of classical and Christian culture." He entered the religious life there, and in 771 was ordained a priest. Seven years later he became abbot, with the support of the Frankish monks, while the Lombards supported another candidate. "Political rivalry had even entered the life of the monasteries"; the "nationalistic tensions" did not die down, and in 778 Autpertus decided to leave the monastery and go with some Frankish monks to Spoleto, under the patronage of Charlemagne. But the tensions returned, with the abbot denouncing Charlemagne and the calling of a pontifical tribunal. Called as a witness, he died during the trip, possibly by murder, in 784.
Among his works "of high theological and moral caliber," the pope recalled his "De Cupiditate," dedicated to the conflict between virtues and vices, and his commentary on Revelation. In the former work, "he intends to give the monks practical lessons about how to conduct spiritual warfare every day," and taking up Timothy's statement that those who want to live in faithfulness to Jesus Christ will be persecuted, reveals that today "there is no longer an external persecution, but internal: the struggle against the forces of evil." Autpertus denounced that "the greed of the rich and powerful in the society of his time also existed within the souls of the monks," and defined greed "as the root of all evil, the only root of all the vices, and" - the pope commented - "in the light of the present global economic crisis, this analysis reveals all of its relevance: we see, in fact, that it is precisely from this root of greed that the entire crisis was born."
Autpertus told the monks that "the disdain of the world becomes important in their spirituality, a disdain not for the beauty of creation, but for the false view of the world presented to us by greed, which insinuates that possessing and appearing to be wealthy are the highest values of our existence." In our time, he added, "there is a widespread false concept of freedom," understood as "having everything in one's disposal," but as Autpertus wrote, "even for those who are not monks, the Lord has proposed only two paths, one narrow and one wide, one steep and one easy."
Autpertus's time, Benedict XVI continued, was one in which "political opportunism, nationalism and tribalism disfigured the true face of the Church," "difficulties with which we also are familiar." But in his commentary on Revelation, Autpertus showed the true face of the Church. To those who saw it as "a divided body, one part belonging to Christ and one to the devil," he responds that "the Church can never be separated from Jesus Christ." He knew how to "discover the true face of the Church in the saints, and above all in Mary," and "knew what it means to be a Christian: living by the Word of God, entering into the abyss of the mystery, giving new life to the Word of God, and offering it our flesh in order to give it new life in our time."
This is a mandate that Benedict XVI once again gave to the young people, to whom he again "entrusted" the cross for world youth Day. At the end of the audience, in his greetings in Italian, the pope addressed the young people of the Centro San Lorenzo, "who today remember the delivery of the cross of the young people: it was April 22, 1984, when at the end of the Holy Year of the Redemption, John Paul II entrusted to the young people the wooden cross" that has become known as the cross of WYD. "Since then, the cross has begun to travel across the continents, opening the hearts of many young men and women to the love of Christ." Dear friends," he continued, "I entrust this cross to you once again, so that many young people may discover the mercy of God and revive within their hearts hope in Christ crucified and risen."
PHOTO: Credit CPP
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