Shameless wealth of a few brings crime

(ANSA) - Vatican City, June 13 - Pope Francis on Tuesday condemned "the shameless wealth that is accumulated in the hands of a few privileged people, and often is accompanied by illegality and exploitation", as well as the "scandal" of the spread of "poverty to major sectors of society all over the world". Faced with this, he said in a message for the First World Day of the Poor, "we cannot remain inert and still less resigned to their fate". And to start with, "we need to be able to clearly identify poverty".
    Francis said "we are not inert and resigned" to "poverty which hinders the spirit of initiative of so many young people, preventing them from finding work; to poverty which anaesthetises the sense of responsibility inducing people to prefer delegating and seeking favouritism; to poverty which poisons the wells of participation and restricts the spaces of professionalism humiliating the merit of those who work and produce". The pontiff called for a "new vision of life and society" from now on to fight poverty.
    Francis added that "harking to the cry of the poor" does not mean seeing them as "beneficiaries of aid" or "gestures to put our consciences at ease" but "offering our effective contribution to change history, generating real development" and raising them "from their condition of marginalisation". He highlighted the opposition between "empty words" and "concrete acts".
    The pope also said poverty was not a problem but a "resource to realise the Gospel message".
    He spoke of "the thousand faces of the poor, from injustice to moral poverty".
    The pontiff urged "everyone, not only believers", to combat poverty and what he has often called today's "throwaway culture".
    "Invite them to lunch, pray with them", he exhorted the recipients of his message.
    Poverty is also a "measure of assessment for goods and ties," Francis said.
    The pope established the World Day of the Poor last November, saying ti was an emergency that had to be met.