Pope Francis warns of structures that promote poverty, ignorance, corruption

By TRISHA MACAS, GMA News

Published January 18, 2015 9:13pm

Pope Francis in his concluding mass talked of how man destroyed the with what he called "social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption."

During his five-day visit that ends on Monday, the Pope called for action to alleviate poverty and challenged those in authority to end corruption.

"God chose and blessed us for a purpose: to be holy and blameless in his sight (Eph 1:4). He chose us, each of us to be witnesses of his truth and his justice in this world. He created the world as a beautiful garden and asked us to care for it," Pope Francis said at the Quirino Grandstand.

"But through sin, man has disfigured that natural beauty; through sin, man has also destroyed the unity and beauty of our human family, creating social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption," he added.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican Press Office, in a news conference hours later reiterated the point.

It was not the first time that the pontiff corruption during his five-day visit in the country.

At the Malacanan Palace, Pope Francis reminded the audience--mostly government officials--that this year set aside as the "Year of the Poor."

"I hope that this prophetic summons will challenge everyone, at all levels of society, to reject every form of corruption which diverts resources from the poor, and to make concerted efforts to ensure the inclusion of every man and woman and child in the life of the community," he said. —NB, GMA News

Tags: papalvisit, popefrancis