Pope Francis on Income Inequality

1. “Young friends, you have a particular sensitivity towards injustice, but you are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of people who put their own interests before the common good.”

2. “I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes that you are incapable of responsibility.”

3. “Do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Situations can change, people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good. Do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it.”

4. “Between selfish indifference and violent protest there is always another possible option: that of dialogue.”

5. “No amount of pacification will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself.”

6. A society “impoverishes itself” by perpetuating inequality.

 

Quoted in Pope Wades Into Social Issues in Brazil (WSJ), Pope’s Finale Draws Millions (WSJ) and Pope’s Populist Touch in Rio Slum (International Herald Tribune).