Cagliari, Italy, Sep 22, 2013 / 07:37 am
Pope Francis spoke with a group of workers and the unemployed in his pastoral visit to the island of Sardinia today, encouraging them to remain hopeful in the face of a culture that values money over people.
"Don't let your hope be stolen!" he exhorted the crowds gathered in the capitol city of Cagliari on Sept. 22.
An economic system that "idolizes money" is based upon a "throw-away culture: the grandparents are thrown away, the young people are thrown away. And we must say 'no' to this throw-away culture," said Pope Francis.
"God has willed that at the center of the world there may not be an idol, but man: man and woman, who carry forward, with their own work, the world," he said.