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February 10, 2016 "How many families are victims of usury on the road!". Pope Francis exclaimed this, speaking off the cuff in St. Peter's Square in the general audience and on the sidelines of the Mass for Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent."Please - he asked the 30 thousand faithful present at today's General Audience - let us pray that in this Jubilee the Lord will take away from everyone's heart this desire, usury, to have more. And make us generous and great".
"Many times - he remembered - in desperation men end up in suicide because they don't make it and they have no hope, there is no outstretched hand that helps them but only the one that comes to make them pay interest". "Usury is a great sin. Instead, the Lord has promised his mercy to everyone: the Lord will always give you double. If we want God's mercy, we will start to do it", asked Pope Francis to the pilgrims.
If the Jubilee does not reach the "pockets" of those who have more money, pushing them to share their wealth with those who have less, it is not a true Jubilee ", added Pope Francis." If we - the figures are not sure - are eighty per cent of the riches of humanity are in the hands of less than 20 per cent of the people, "said the Pope." I say this by remembering our history of salvation: the Jubilee is an opportunity to convert, to make the heart more generous, more son of God, with more love. If this desire, this Jubilee does not reach the pockets, it is not true Jubilee: and this is in the Bible, this Pope does not invent it! ", He added to the applause of the faithful.
" Everyone think in his heart if he has too many things, you think he has who has nothing, who 10 percent, who 50 percent ", said the Pope. And, recalling the Bible, he stressed that the message of not wasting" happens even today: letters arrive here in the Apostolic Alms with some money inside, a little or less, but this is a part of my salary to help others: and that's nice, helping others, charitable institutions, hospitals, retirement homes, giving tenth to foreigners, those who are foreigners and are passing through, Jesus was passing through Egypt. "
Pope Francis meets with Iraqi Prime Minister
Before the General Audience, Pope Francis met with Iraqi Prime Minister Hyder Alabadi. The situation of Christians and ethnic and religious minorities who live in Iraq, with particular reference to the importance of their presence and the need to protect their rights "and the" importance of the ongoing reconciliation process between the various social components of the country "and" the national and regional humanitarian situation "are among the issues at the center of the talks in the Vatican by Iraqi Prime Minister Hayda al-Abadi, received in separate audiences by the Pope and subsequently by the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, with the Secretary for Relations with States, Paul Gallagher. On the talks, called "cordial", he informs a statement from the Vatican press room. The talks also mentioned "the role of interreligious dialogue and the responsibility of religious communities in promoting tolerance and peace".