Before yesterday was the First Sunday of Advent, and congregations across the world are now preparing for Christmas. During Sunday mass in the Vatican, Pope Francis took the opportunity to warn of the threats associated with excessive consumerism, which is often all to apparent at Christmas time.
Pope Francis urged people to resist the excesses of consumerism in the period leading up to Christmas, calling it a virus that attacks faith and offends the needy.
“Dear brothers and sisters, consumerism is a virus that affects the faith at its root, because it makes you believe that life depends only on what you have.”
The warning was delivered in the homily at a Mass for the Congolese community, during which the Pope echoed the concerns of other clerics, worried that materialism is starting to dominate this spiritual holiday.
When you live for things, things are never enough, greed grows and other people become obstacles in a race and so one ends up feeling threatened and always dissatisfied and angry. The level of hatred rises” – says Pope Francis.
Pope Francis spoke between the two biggest shopping days of the year in rich countries such as the United States – Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Online sales in the United States reached $7.4 billion on Friday, up nearly 20% from last year.