Rome Newsroom, Mar 6, 2024 / 11:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis this week used his general audience to focus on the vice of pride, with the Holy Father for the second consecutive week relying on an aide to read his remarks.
“Today’s catechesis will be read by a monsignor,” the pope said on Wednesday, “because I still have a cold and can’t read well.”
The pope delivered the Angelus address from the window of the Apostolic Palace the prior two Sundays. He has relied on aides to read his public addresses since the Vatican announced he was suffering from “mild flu” symptoms in late February.
The pope’s catechesis on Wednesday focused on the vice of pride, which the Holy Father argued was the “great queen” of all the vices.
“Those who give in to this vice are far from God, and the correction of this evil requires time and effort, more than any other battle to which the Christian is called.”
Pope Francis related the vice of pride to that of vainglory, the topic of last week’s general audience, cautioning: “If vainglory is a disease of the human self, it is still a childish disease when compared to the havoc pride is capable of.”
Pride is “evil,” the Holy Father said, and is of a greater magnitude than vainglory, as it arises from “the absurd claim to be like God.”
Referencing the monastic tradition of antiquity and Dante Alighieri’s epic The Divine Comedy, the pope noted that there is a “sequence of evils,” or hierarchy, of vices, starting with gluttony and culminating in pride.
Highlighting the effects of pride in everyday life, the pope noted it “ruins human relationships” and foments division instead of promoting fraternal solidarity.
The pope profiled the “proud man” as one who has an inflated sense of self and his place in the world, adding that he is “one who frets about being recognized as greater than others, always wants to see his own merits recognized, and despises others, deeming them inferior to himself.”
Building upon this characterization, Pope Francis outlined what he saw as the characteristics of the person who has succumbed to pride, noting that the prideful person is “stiff,” or inflexible, and one who is “easily led to scornful judgment.”
“With no reason, he passes irrevocable judgments on others, who seem to him hopelessly inept and incapable. In his haughtiness, he forgets that Jesus in the Gospels assigned us very few moral precepts, but on one of them he was uncompromising: never judge,” the pope observed.
“There is little one can do with a person suffering from pride. It is impossible to talk to them, much less correct them, because ultimately they are no longer present to themself. One just has to be patient with them, because one day their edifice will collapse,” the pope continued.
At the end of his address, the Holy Father urged the faithful to “take advantage of this Lent to fight against our pride,” adding “salvation comes through humility, the true remedy for every act of pride.”
Francis himself read the appeal at the end of the address in which he renewed his call for peace in war-torn regions, imploring: “Let us ask the Lord for the gift of peace.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
“The pope profiled the “proud man” as one who has an inflated sense of self and his place in the world, adding that he is “one who frets about being recognized as greater than others, always wants to see his own merits recognized, and despises others, deeming them inferior to himself.””
Eastern Orthodoxy teaches that a particularly dangerous vice is a pride which is covered by a false humility. Typically, such a person is convinced that he is “the humblest” and speaks/acts accordingly.
Benjamin Franklin once made a list of 13 virtues that he wanted to cultivate in himself but he gave up on humility saying “Alas, if I were humble I would probably be proud of it.” Someone who once demonstrated humility was Einstein. When he Was offered leadership of the new state of Isreal he flatly refused. He said “I am a physics professor, I know nothing about statesmanship or running a government”. He showed keen interest in the ideas of other scientists without jealousy or rancor.
If there was any more proof that we live during Orwellian insanity, Francis fills in the gaps.
So much on point. Dante put gluttony at the bottom of the list of serious sin; I note that Francis quotes him. After choosing the name of a very humble saint, one of the pontiff Francis’ first (April 2013) addresses was on humility, described as a “lowering” of oneself. He certainly continues to demonstrate that trait with great effect.
We read: “Those who give in to this vice [pride] are far from God, and the correction of this evil requires time and effort, more than any other battle to which the Christian is called.” AND, “There is little one can do with a person suffering from pride. It is impossible to talk to them, much less correct them, because ultimately they are no longer present to themself. One just has to be patient with them, because one day their edifice will collapse.”
which “edifice?”
Isn’t it barely a half-truth to subordinate real dialogue to the ideology that “time is greater than space”? Isn’t “change” the deepest rut of all?
His Holyness is saying what the church has always said. Pride is the worst of the mortal sins, it the sin of the devil himself. It can block repentance when a person’s sins become identified with the sense of self. The sins can then in a way become that person. Change is always with us in that we can be moving towards Christ or away from Him. The old priest who gave me instructions 54 years ago noted that Jesus treated sins of the flesh mildly but was very harsh on sins of pride. It was the Magdeline who was the first to enter the empty tomb and also the first to meet the the risen Christ. The proud can not forgive those who differ from them they will imagine every sort of evil in regard to them. The proud dig a very deep pit for themselves, at the bottom of it is the devil.
Very well said: ” It can block repentance when a person’s sins become identified with the sense of self.”
And, dialogue toward the truth is annihilated when one’s autocratic sense of rightness demonizes even one’s constructive critics about one’s flawed prudential judgments. Not really very helpful to trash the insights and the legitimate self-worth of others: “fixistic, rigid, ideological, backwardist, bigoted.”
The spiritual dimension of the “throwaway culture.”
Pot/kettle.
Good title, though.
I’ll try to remember it in June.
Thus wrote Mahatma Gandhi: “Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.”