A quote from Pope Francis:
“When in a city the poor and the weak are cared for, assisted and helped to promote themselves in society, they are shown to be the treasure of the Church and an asset to society. Instead, when a society ignores the poor, persecutes them and criminalizes them, compelling them to turn to organized crime, that society is impoverished to the point of misery, loses its freedom and favors the ‘garlic and onions’ of slavery, the slavery of its selfishness, the slavery of cowardliness, and that society ceases to be Christian. Dear brothers and sisters, to bring the year to an end is to reaffirm tha ta ‘last hour’ exists, and that the ‘fullness of time’ exists. In concluding the year, in giving thanks and asking for forgiveness, it will do us good to ask for the grace to be able to walk in freedom, to be able to repair the damage done and to be able to defend ourselves from the nostalgia of slavery, not to idealize slavery.”
— Celebration of Vespers, Jan. 1, 2014
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