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Vatican City, May 19, 2016 / 04:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During his Mass on Thursday, Pope Francis preached a warning to the rich who oppress the poor, focusing on employers who accumulate wealth by misusing those who work for them.

“We consider this drama of today: the exploitation of the people, the blood of these people who become slaves, the traffickers of people – and not just those who deal in prostitutes and children for child labour,” Pope Francis said May 19 during his Mass in the chapel of Santa Marta House in the Vatican.

In addition, he said, there is a “more – so to speak – 'civilized'” form of trafficking which happens when an employer says, “I’ll pay you this much, without vacation, without health care, … everything under the table… But I will become rich!”

The Pope's homily was based on the Epistle of James, which told of woe for the rich who oppress the poor. Calling the passage “a little strong,” he said St. James clearly “understood the danger there is when a Christian allows himself to be controlled by wealth.”

Riches, Pope Francis said, “in and of themselves are good things,” and noted that there are “many righteous rich men” in the Bible, including Job and Tobias. However, he added, riches are a “relative, not absolute” good, and the Lord commended Solomon “for asking not for wealth but for wisdom of heart.”

In themselves, riches “are good; but if you prefer to serve God, riches come in second place – the right place,” he said.

Pope Francis recalled the rich young man in the Gospel, saying that he “was good, but attached to riches, and these riches in the end became for him the chains that took away his freedom to follow Jesus.”

He criticized the “theology of prosperity,” according to which “God shows you that you are just if he give you great riches,” calling it mistaken.

The Pope offered these questions as a way to examine one's conscience with regard to wealth: “Is my heart set on riches or is it not? What is my relationship with wealth?”

He said St. James' warning to the rich was aimed especially at those whose “wealth is made by exploiting people … those rich people who exploit [others], they take advantage of the work of the people, and those poor people become slaves.”

Giving a contemporary example, he pointed to those who are given only seasonal work, “with no opportunity for a pension, without health insurance.” Employers who do this “are true leeches and they live by spilling the blood of the people whom they make slaves of labour.”

He also pointed to a woman who was offered a job working 11-hour days for less than $730 a month, all under the table. When she balked, he said, she was told: “Look at the line behind you. If you want it, take it, if no, leave. There are others waiting.”

Such employers “fatten themselves on wealth,” Pope Francis said, adding that contemporary exploitation of workers “is truly a form of slavery.”

“We used to think that slaves no longer exist: they exist. It’s true, people are not going and taking them from Africa to sell them in America, no. But it is in our cities.”

Such employers are traffickers and “do not realize it,” he said.

“The blood you have sucked from of all these people … is a cry to the Lord, it is a cry for justice.”

The Pope also referred to Christ's story of The Rich Man and Lazarus, saying the rich man “was in his own world; he did not notice that on the other side of the door to his house was someone who was starving. But this is worse. That rich man at least did not realize, and left the other man to die of hunger. But this is worse. This is starving the people with their work for my own profit! Living on the blood of the people. And this is a mortal sin. This is a mortal sin. It requires a great deal of penance, a great deal of restitution, in order to be converted from this sin.”

Pope Francis concluded his homily by asking that that the Lord might “make us understand today the simplicity that Jesus speaks to us of in today's Gospel: a glass of water in the name of Christ is more important than all the riches accumulated through the exploitation of the people.”

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IMAGE: CNS/EPA

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With visits to detention facilities and washing the feet of the detainees, Pope Francis has placed renewed emphasis on the work of mercy of visiting prisoners.

However, some see a growing urgency for the church to be present in cell blocks not just as part of its mission to help the most disenfranchised, but because radical ideologies have been filling the spiritual void wherever it is found -- especially in prisons.

Governments and international entities are paying more attention to the problem of radicalization taking root and spreading in prisons, said Msgr. Paolo Rudelli, the Vatican's permanent observer at the Council of Europe.

At an upcoming meeting, the church hopes to show how and why all religions must work together to protect a prisoner's right to religious freedom and counter extremism, he told Catholic News Service in an email response to questions May 17.

The May 30-June 1 gathering in Strasbourg, France, is sponsored by Msgr. Rudelli's office, the International Catholic Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ICCPPC) and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences as a platform for dialogue with governmental agencies through the Council of Europe, the monsignor said.

"We want to highlight the specific contribution" of the church in offering spiritual care, he said, as well as "underline the importance of the daily collaboration between chaplains of different faiths" by inviting Muslim, Russian Orthodox and Catholic prison chaplains.

Father Brian Gowans, president of the ICCPPC, said people can use any religion, not just Islam, as "a weapon, a tool of war."

The meeting is meant to show that "religion is not the problem, quite the contrary, it's the solution" to radicalization and extremism, he told CNS by phone from Scotland.

The priest, who will speak at the Strasbourg gathering, said leaders will look at "how we can best utilize our faith as a force for good" and to de-radicalize extremists or "help someone on the cusp of radicalization."

One aim in chaplaincy work is to get prisoners "to believe in themselves" and recognize the talents and skills they have and channel them for the good, said the priest, who has ministered to prisoners for 22 years, and serves as the chaplains' adviser to the Scottish prison service.

"At the heart of this is that people are looking for something in life," he said, "a reason to get up in the morning." However, an unguided search for new meaning can make them "easily manipulated" by people peddling extremist ideologies, he said.

Father Gowans said many prisoners have been ignored by faith communities, and so "they found someone who wanted them" and gave them a sense of purpose in an extremist cause.

Religious leaders from all faiths have to get inside prisons and make sure inmates can hear what their faith really says because "killing others in the name of God? No God wants that," he said.

Larger society also needs to focus on the addictions or social or mental problems that lead many people to end up in jail, he said.

Many prisoners are suffering from feelings of loss, he said. "I tell them, 'You've come in here with a lot of baggage. Let's see if we can lighten your load.'"

"Most don't need to be in prison at all. We've just gotten good at locking up people we're mad at," Father Gowans said.

Part of what he does, he said, is "raise their self-esteem, their hope."

In this regard, the church is "a huge resource, but it means you have to engage. There are thousands of prisoners and few staff" able to offer such needed face-to-face guidance, he said.

Father Gowans said he'd like to see all prison staff take an "asset-based approach" to prisoners that doesn't label them according to their crime but encourages them to identify their skills and dreams.

Many people, including prisoners, don't believe inmates have any gifts and redeeming qualities, he said. "We as chaplains need to help people believe that, help show them: 'Hey, I am good at this. This is me.'"

Father Gowans said he talks to every prisoner he meets without regard to the person's faith or lack of religious affiliation.

He stops to talk with people because "that friendly chitchat leads to other things," he said. But it is imperative chaplains not "water down" their religion just for the sake of being friendly and approachable.

"More and more people want more spirituality in their life" and prison offers time for deeper reflection, reading and prayer, he said.

"All of us are reflective, all of us have a spiritual element in our life that has to be tapped into" and if chaplains don't do it when they are there, then prisoners may think, "If they're not doing it who is?" leaving the door open to more aggressive or manipulative pseudo-spiritual sources.

Father Gowans said he asks prisoners tell him their story, "which is met with suspicion because no one ever asked them that question." They often say he is the first person in their life to show any interest at all and "that's the key to opening many doors."

Recruiters of radical movements play on people's weaknesses or anger against a world that "singles them out" or scapegoats them, he said.

The most common remark he gets from prisoners, he said, is "You're all I have. I wish I had someone like you in my life" outside the cell walls.

"They need a mentor, a companion and the church is a great source here."

As a Catholic chaplain, he tells people Christ is that companion. The imams will say accompaniment comes from the prophet Muhammad. But in every case, Father Gowans said, "we need to be Christ with each other" offering accompaniment as Muslims, Jews and Christians.

"It takes more than me. But I like to think there are lots of 'me's' out there."

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Follow Glatz on Twitter @CarolGlatz.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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IMAGE: CNS illustration/courtesy Southern Dominican Province

By Peter Finney Jr.

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- The idea of making a walking pilgrimage in the United States took root about four years ago when Dominican Fathers Francis Orozco and Thomas Schaefgen were studying together for the priesthood.

They saw the movie, "The Way," featuring Martin Sheen, who portrayed a father honoring his late son's memory by completing the 450-mile Camino de Santiago, the "Way of St. James," a pilgrimage route across Spain taken for centuries by pilgrims.

"We had both studied abroad in Spain, but we thought, why don't we do something more local, something in this country?" said Father Orozco, chaplain of the Catholic Student Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. "We looked up places, and there really weren't any established pilgrimages in the U.S., so we said, 'Let's make up our own.'"

From that seed sprouted "Friars on Foot," a 478-mile pilgrimage on foot from New Orleans to Memphis, Tennessee, which will begin after the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Orleans May 29 and arrive in Memphis June 29.

Folks can follow the two young friars and their travels at the website friarsonfoot.wordpress.com.

Father Orozco, 33, and Father Schaefgen, 32, who is director of the Catholic Student Center at Tulane University, will wear their white Dominican habits and take small backpacks with water and other essentials such as sunscreen, but they will carry no money or cellphones.

"We want to do this very minimally," Father Orozco told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.said. "We will not carry any money and we will sort of beg. We hope people will provide us with apples and granola bars. We don't plan to use any money. We will carry ID cards and medical insurance cards in case that's needed. We've compromised with our superior that we will have somebody update the website every time we reach a destination."

The friars plan to stay overnight at Catholic churches or with Catholic families along the way, celebrating Mass and even giving history and vocation talks about the 800-year-old congregation -- the Order of Preachers -- whose earliest members were itinerant preachers, walking from town to town.

They will average about 16 miles a day. There are only two stops in Mississippi without Catholic churches -- Pickens and West -- and on those nights they probably will stay at a local Protestant church.

The friars are encouraging people to join them on the walk, if only for an hour or two.

"We will have a pilgrim rule, and part of it will be to the pray the rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours every day, but that won't take up the entire time," Father Orozco said. "If there are people with us, we can talk about whatever they would like to talk about."

Since walking along interstate highways is prohibited, the Dominicans will take local and state highways. The pilgrimage route will basically track Highway 51 north to Memphis.

The pilgrimage will conclude June 29 at St. Peter Church in Memphis, the National Shrine of St. Martin de Porres.

So what do their families and their fellow friars think?

"As we progressed, the first reaction was the question 'why'?" Father Orozco admitted. "Then it was just a matter of explaining. In many ways, I'm glad it's taken four years to plan it because it gave them time to soften up to the idea. We presented this to the province a couple of years ago, and I think the vague response was, 'These are young guys. Once they're ordained priests they'll forget about it.'"

Surprise.

"I bet some of the friars forgot about it," Father Orozco said. "Some said, 'I guess they're really going.' I had one student tell me, 'You know, it's very humid in Mississippi, right?' By and large, 99 percent are excited about it."

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Finney is executive editor/general manager of the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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(Vatican Radio) An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Crete early Thursday morning.

Egypt's aviation minister said the crash was more likely caused by a terror attack than technical problems.

Meanwhile, as John Carr reports from Athens, wreckage has been sighted in the Mediterranean sea in Greek waters.

Listen:

Greek television has reported that pieces of debris have been located midway between Crete and Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, where Egyptair flight 804 disappeared in the early hours of this morning.

According to the report, a Greek Navy frigate found at least two large brightly-coloured plastic objects floating on the sea surface.  The speculation is that they could be lifejackets or other cabin equipment.  The location is consistent with where the plane vanished from radar screens just after leaving Greek airspace.

Athens air traffic control said there had been no response from the Egyptair Airbus A320 when it was contacted in its final moments in Greek airspace.  Greece’s defence minister, Panos Kammenos, added that Greek radar showed the plane suddenly making sharp turns and diving, apparently spiralling down out of control.

Greek officials have not speculated about the cause of the plane’s disappearance, but media sources appear to agree with the Egyptians that a terrorist act is looking more likely.  Meanwhile, the sea and air search for more clues goes on.

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