At the Christmas Eve Mass Monday in Rome, Pope Francis, the leader of the 1.3-billion strong Roman Catholic church, cautioned the faithful against greed and finding meaning in material possessions.
“An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when paradoxically a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive,” the pontiff said.
It’s a message apt for today’s fast-paced, tech-driven, consumerist world. Trends move fast—as does the desire to acquire material wealth which are unfortunately seen as the source of meaning and self-esteem.
On Christmas Day, Pope Francis then said he wished for fraternity—“among individuals of every nation and culture, among people with different ideas, and among persons of different religions.”
Again it’s an apt call amid a world of intolerance and hatred, where people look upon others unfavorably just because the color of their skin, or the language they speak, or the faith that they espouse, are not the same.
“Our differences are not a detriment or a danger,” the Pope said. “They are a source of richness.”
These messages well apply to what is now happening in the Philippines. First, the soaring prices of everyday goods and services have only served to make poor Filipinos feel even more marginalized and powerless than ever.
The coming year is an election year and candidates, as they have always done, will package themselves as saviors who will lift their constituents out of poverty. Alas, these are empty promises. They do not serve the people by handing them a few bills in times of need or giving a bag of goods when disasters strike.
What the people need is an environment conducive to economic activity so they could fend for themselves and have more options on how they want to live their lives.
The coming campaign will also again highlight the mindless animosity among supporters of various politicians. The exchange of statements could be acrimonious. Worse, they are based less on thoughtful consideration of issues than they are on rehearsed lines fed to trolls.
Worse than hatred peddled online is the physical violence that has started creeping up on us. There is a climate of impunity that emboldens criminals—sometimes masquerading as protectors or servants of the people—to kill anybody who gets in the way of their objectives.
The Pope’s messages are worthy of reflection by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. In the end, we are all the same, and the labels and possessions we adorn ourselves with will not really matter as much as how genuinely we live our lives.