Pope Francis Calls Usury a Scourge, a Plague, as Did Peter Maurin
On January 29, 2014, Pope Francis greeted the National Council of Anti-Usury Foundations, speaking strongly about the scourge, the plague of usury, the charging of interest, especially exorbitant interest, calling it a dramatic social ill:
“I hope that these institutions may intensify their commitment alongside the victims of usury, a dramatic social ill.
“When a family has nothing to eat, because it has to make payments to usurers, this is not Christian, it is not human! This dramatic scourge in our society harms the inviolable dignity of the human person.”
Usurers Are Not Gentlemen
by Peter Maurin
1. The Prophets of Israel and the Fathers of the Church
forbade lending money at interest.
2. Lending at interest
was called usury
by the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.
3. Usurers were not considered
to be gentlemen
when people used to listen
to the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.
4. When people used to listen
to the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church
they could not see anything gentle
in trying to live
on the sweat of somebody else’s brow
by lending money at interest.
