Vatican City, Oct 19, 2017 / 10:00 am
Pope Francis told a group of students studying finance Thursday not to let themselves get taken in by the charm of money, but to instead work toward building a better future based on justice and the common good.
"It is essential that, until now and in your future professional life, you will learn to be free from the allure of money, from the slavery in which money closes those who worship it," the Pope said Oct. 19.
It's also essential that students "acquire the strength and the courage not to blindly obey the invisible hand of the market," he said, and encouraged them to take advantage of their study time, learning "to become promoters and defenders of a growth in equity, to become craftsman of a just and adequate administration of our common home, which is the world."
Pope Francis spoke to students enrolled in the Chartreux Institute of Lyon. Established in 1825, the school is a private Carthusian educational institution linked to the French state school system.