Pope Francis Says 'The Poor Pay For Corruption'

has denounced the corruption of politicians, businessmen and churchmen which he says is "paid for by the poor," who are deprived of that to which they are entitled thanks to the greed of the powerful. "The damage of corruption, of the corrupt, is levied on the weakest, the materially poor and spiritually poor," he said. The pontiff celebrated mass this morning in the private chapel of his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta, and used the sermon as a warning.

Pope Francis said that corruption is a sin that "is at hand" to those who have authority over others, because they feel powerful, they feel "almost like God." "Corruption is everywhere: we must tell the truth. Corruption is the sin that is always at hand for a person who has authority over another, economically, be it politically, be it in the church," he added. He said that a person becomes corrupted even on the safest roads, because of politics, money, power, vanity and pride. "And it happens everywhere," he said.

He asked himself who pays for corruption, and he said it's not "who takes the bribe" because that is just an intermediary. "And who pays for the corruption of the clergy? Children, who cannot make the sign of the cross, who do not know the catechism, who are not looked after. It is paid for by patients who are not visited, prisoners who have no spiritual care," he said. He said the only way to overcome temptation and sin is service; because corruption comes from pride and arrogance, while ervice humbles you.