The Pope Doesn't Fall for the Stories of the Corrupt

A few days ago, from the city of Caserta, Italy, the Pope once again denounced the corrupt with all his strength: “We must say No! to every form of corruption or illegality.”

Since the Pope came to the See of Peter he has not stopped speaking, strongly and directly, about the lives of the corrupt and the great harm they do to society and to their own families.

His phrases have already become famous: “The corrupt bring dirty bread home to their children,” “They are starving for dignity,” “We may be sinners, but not corrupt,” “The corrupt throw parties with the money of the poor,” “Those who help the Church with one hand and steal with the other are unjust,” “Jesus Christ never spoke of forgiving the corrupt, but of tying a millstone around their necks and throwing them into the sea,” “Let us pray for the corrupt, that they may be converted and give back everything they stole, because otherwise the dogs of hell will lick their blood”…

For the past two weeks, since I was barred from writing any more in El Universal for publishing these words of the Pope in my articles, for denouncing the lives of the corrupt in Venezuela, for calling people to pray for their conversion, and for contrasting their lives of waste and luxury with the tragedy our people are living, I have thought a lot about this business of denouncing corruption.

It is clear that the “powerful corrupt” are terrified of being talked about; they are terrified of the Truth. And I believe they are capable of truly evil things to silence those who denounce them. Some sectors of the Italian mafia have already threatened the Pope with death. And I suppose that, like every good Christian who is not afraid of death because he knows his true homeland is Heaven, it didn’t matter to him at all, because he then excommunicated the Sicilian mafiosi and keeps speaking about the subject every time he has the chance.

It is certainly not easy for anyone to denounce the corrupt, who go so far as to buy off the highest levels of the judiciary so they can “fix” the laws their way, whether to buy a company, to obtain a divorce, or to do whatever they please.

For us Christians it is much more pleasant and peaceful always to talk about God’s love, his infinite mercy, the Christian virtues, and so on. But the Pope is very clear that we must not speak only about those subjects. He has understood perfectly that one of the missions God entrusted to him in this pontificate is to denounce the cancer of corruption that is tearing the whole world apart. Back when he was a Cardinal in his diocese of Buenos Aires, he also denounced corruption and illegality hundreds of times, in a strong voice, without fear!

Some people say: why make life complicated for yourself? Better to watch your back. But what some people don’t know is that when a Christian truly, truly lets God into his life and loves him above all things, life already gets quite complicated. And it gets very complicated because you begin to see those around you, in your home, on your street, in your city, in your country, in the world, as your dearest brothers and sisters. And anything bad that happens to them affects you too. That is what happens to Pope Francis, and what happens to many of us Christians. So how can the Pope, or any Christian who has the chance to speak or write in the media, keep quiet, out of fear!, in the face of the injustices being committed right under their noses?

This Pope is giving us a tremendous example of what it means to be a brave child of God, of what it means to think of others regardless of the consequences for your life, your career, your family or anything else. He is giving us a tremendous example that with such people you cannot be hypocritical or diplomatic, because what they are committing are sins that cry out to heaven.

What a wonderful Pope God has given us! We pray hard for you, Holy Father, because you teach us that we must not fall for the stories of the corrupt. We earnestly ask for your prayers, so that every day there may be more of us who, without fear!, denounce the corruption, illegality and injustice happening around us. And also so that we pray hard for their conversion, so that they may be saved. God and the Blessed Virgin will protect us from all evil!