Holy Father Pope Francis while addressing an audience in the Vatican with the “John Paul II” Anti-Usury Non-Profit Association that provides support and assistance to victims of financial exploitation, highlighted the urgency to denounce usury and financial exploitation. His Holiness Pope Francis conveyed that teaching people to live a simple lifestyle, which knows how to distinguish between what is superfluous and what is necessary is the first step in preventing this evil.
As reported by Vatican Radio, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “Usury humiliates and kills. Usury is a grave sin. It kills life, stomps on human dignity, promotes corruption, and sets up obstacles to the common good. This type of financial exploitation – which involves lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest – is an ancient evil that must be prevented through education.” Further, His Holiness added, “Financial education must make people responsible for their actions and help them not to take on debts only to buy things which can easily be done without. Education against usury involves instilling an honest and legality-driven mindset, along with a desire to help those in need through volunteer work.”
His Holiness Pope Francis concluded his remarks by appealing a new economic humanism, which puts an end to the exclusionary and unfair economy that kills and reduces people to tools of a culture of waste.
