Pope Francis has been a leading critic of consumerism. Black Friday shows why. Here are a collection of quotes by Pope Francis with pictures of the high holiday of consumerism in America: Black Friday.
“A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. … To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfillment.” — Pope Francis (Laudato Si, 222)
“The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.” — Pope Francis (Evangelii Gaudium, 2)
“When people become self-centered and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality.” — Pope Francis (Laudato Si, 204)
“Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.” — Pope Francis (Laudato Si, 204)
“This paradigm leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume. But those really free are the minority who wield economic and financial power.” —Pope Francis (Laudato Si, 2032)