Pope Leo XIV condemns usury as a grave sin that enslaves the poor and corrupts the human heart, he calls for a renewed commitment to justice and mercy and praises the Church\u2019s anti-usury efforts as a sign of hope in the Jubilee Year.<\/p>\n
By Linda Bordoni<\/b><\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV has denounced the practice of usury as a \u201cgrave sin\u201d that destroys lives, families, and societies, calling it a \u201ccorruption of the human heart\u201d that exploits the vulnerable and undermines human dignity.<\/p>\n
Speaking to members of Italy\u2019s National Anti-Usury Council on Saturday, the Pope thanked them for their thirty years of commitment to assisting victims of usury and promoting ethical economic practices. He warned that usury, both at the individual and global levels, \u201cremains a painful and ancient wound\u201d that continues to afflict the poor and marginalised.<\/p>\n
Usury is not merely an accounting issue <\/p>\n
\u201cThe phenomenon of usury,\u201d the Pope said, \u201cpoints to the corruption of the human heart.\u201d Quoting the prophet Isaiah, he recalled that Scripture condemns exploitation and calls believers to \u201cbreak the chains of injustice and set the oppressed free.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow far from God,\u201d the Pope exclaimed, \u201cis the attitude of those who crush people until they become slaves! Usury is not merely an accounting issue\u2014it is a grave sin that can destroy families, consume the mind and heart, and even lead people to despair or suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned that usury often disguises itself as help offered to those in economic hardship but soon \u201creveals itself for what it is: a burden that suffocates.\u201d The consequences, he said, fall especially on \u201cthose already fragile, such as victims of gambling addiction or families facing medical or financial emergencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entire peoples can be enslaved <\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV extended his warning beyond individual cases, condemning \u201cusurious financial systems that can bring entire peoples to their knees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he reminded listeners of those \u201cwho in commerce engage in usurious and mercantile practices that cause hunger and death among their brothers and sisters in humanity.\u201d Such actions, he said, create \u201cstructures of sin\u201d and carry \u201cgrave responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
He asked pointedly: \u201cAre the less fortunate not human beings? Do the weak not share our same dignity? Are those born with fewer opportunities worth less as human beings, destined merely to survive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur answer to these questions,\u201d the Pope affirmed, \u201cdetermines the value of our societies and our future. Either we reclaim our moral and spiritual dignity, or we fall into a pit of filth.\u201d (Dilexi te, 95)<\/p>\n
A mission rooted in mercy <\/p>\n
Thanking the Anti-Usury Council for its ongoing service, Pope Leo XIV described its work as a \u201csign of hope\u201d in this Holy Year, fully aligned with the spirit of the Jubilee of Mercy.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the Gospel story of Zacchaeus, the Pope said that conversion\u2014like that of the tax collector\u2014is possible when one encounters the gratuitous love of Christ. \u201cWhen profit becomes our goal,\u201d he said, \u201cothers lose their face and become objects to exploit. And in the end, we too lose ourselves and our souls.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conversion of those who commit usury,\u201d he added, \u201cis as important as our closeness to those who suffer because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concluding his address, Pope Leo XIV encouraged those engaged in the fight against usury to persevere with courage and unity, supported by the Church\u2019s pastors and inspired by the Gospel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV condemns usury as a grave sin that enslaves the poor and corrupts the human heart,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":313746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[58950,158013,17628,79,2219,58949,50,3417,5877,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-313745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-jubilee2025","9":"tag-audiences","10":"tag-corruption","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-italy","13":"tag-jubilee","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","16":"tag-poverty","17":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115395937528848470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}