Pope Leo XIV: Unfair Investments Could Cause the Deaths of Millions

Pope Leo XIV commented, during the General Audience on Wednesday at St. Peter's square, about the drive of man whereby "We are driven by the need to do; this is what causes us to constantly strive for; and desire to achieve."

He emphasized, “For success in almost any line of endeavor there normally must be a quickening of the results in that field. Instead of speaking of our responsibilities on earth, we ought to come back again to the Resurrection of Christ Jesus and how it affects our daily life.”

Sharing in Christ's Victory and Rest

We have a part in Jesus’ victory over sin and death. So the question remains can we have a part in His rest? And this Holy Father has confirmed that indeed our faith tells us that this is what will be the case. But the rest will not be a nothing could be done place. The rest will be a vibrant experience of peace and joy. “Are we waiting merely for something to happen in our lives, or will it happen in this hour?” Pope Leo.

Each day a number of individuals are swept into being busy if not actively engaged in that which ultimately does nothing to satisfy the heart, being solely built on and off of that which is materially created. We live in circles of options, choices, challenges, struggles, responsibilities; but like Christ, our efforts need to be focused on “How to finish our task by giving ourselves to the end.”

Pope Leo was fond of reminding us not to assume that so many things would make us feel fulfilled... it will become a vortex that will consume us, rob us of our peace and serenity, our stillness, stop us from living a full life to what is important to us.

Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be

When we are tired and unsatisfied with life, it might feel like we are pouring countless hours of time into a lot of different practical things, but not one of them truly contributes towards the greater good. Even when we finally finish a day full of events and activities, we can still feel empty at the end. Pope John Paul II once asked, “Why do we have a ‘heart?,” and the answer is that we’re not human machines; therefore, we do have a heart. And we could almost say that we are one heart.

The Pope explains that the heart is "the representation of our complete humanity made up of all of our ideas, emotions, and wants and where we keep our heart is an unseeable part of who we are." The book of Matthew encourages us to think about the heart as the place where we keep everything that is important to us.

The Danger of Unfair Investments

Thus, it is necessary for us not to invest our treasures in things that are experimental or temporary on this planet. Our riches shouldn't be stored up in monetary types of wealth. "This type of investing is becoming more and more speculative and without regulation; this often leads to many deaths around the world due to their distance between wealth and God's creations."

The Pope suggested that we should examine ourselves and be honest about our real treasure, what we love, and how this relates to our commitments. As we are faced with different types of commitments, they may become more of a distraction from or cause of our feelings of despair and purpose.

Calming Our Agitated Hearts

Yet, if we were to reconsider our view of existence as seen through the lens of the Easter season, we might find the ability to find deeper meaning and the ability to truly be able to access the very heart of the human experience at its core - i.e., "cor inquietum" (the "restless heart") as famously discussed by St. Augustine of Hippo in his wonderful memoir, Confessions.

Returning to the Heart's True Home

The feeling of chaos reflects the fact that hearts have direction when they are not randomly moving about, "disordered and without objective or destination," but rather have the direction of your true home or "return home." You find your heart in the God who loves, and His love and your love for Him can be found in the love you give to others.

To see our brothers and sisters, it is necessary that we first slow down and be intentional about looking into their eyes, sometimes it means changing how we were originally going to plan or even where we were going to go. The Holy Father, Pope Leo, stated that the mystery of the heart’s movement is to “return to the origin of its place of being, rejoicing in the joy that lasts forever, that will never let you down.”

The Human Heart Cannot Live Without Hope

It is impossible to live without meaning, beyond that which goes away. “The human heart cannot live without hope,” the Pope stressed, “without knowing that it is made for fullness, not for want.”

Jesus—through His Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection—created a path for us to attain this hope. If we enter into “the dynamism of the love for which it was created,” our hearts will not be restless. Life has triumphed as a result of Jesus' life. Jesus continues to win “in every daily life death.”