Pope talks materialism in S. Korea
DAEJEON, South Korea — Pope Francis called for Catholics to combat the allure of materialism that stifles the spirit today during his five-day trip to South Korea. In the newly rich and hyper-competitive country, that might be a hard sell.
Far from being considered an evil, the trappings of wealth are often linked here to the hard work, sacrifice and gritty persistence of generations who hustled their nation out of war, dictatorship and poverty into an Asian powerhouse.
“I don’t want to knock successful people off their pedestal just because they have a lot of money,” said Kim Eui-kyun, a 61-year-old from Seoul who described himself as a lapsed Catholic. “If someone has made a fortune for himself, fair and square, and has a lot of money, I don’t think that’s something to be condemned. I look up to them, actually, and I wonder, ‘What did I do wrong?’”
Francis made the call during his first public Mass in Asia, receiving a boisterous welcome from tens of thousands of young Asians gathered for a Catholic festival in the central city of Daejeon. During his homily, Francis urged the faithful to reject “inhuman” economic policies that disenfranchise the poor and “the spirit of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife.”
It’s a theme he has raised frequently during his pontificate, railing against the “idolatry of money” and the excesses of capitalism that leave the poorest even further on the margins of society.
Francis was expected to stress the same message later today during a meeting with some 6,000 young Catholics from 23 nations gathered in Solmoe, where Korea’s first Catholic priest was born.
