'Abandon the love of money for Lenten season,' Pontiff says

Pope Francis has released his message for the upcoming 40 days Lenten fast.

In the message, entitled “The Word is a gift. Other persons are a gift," the Catholic leader encourages Christians to abandon the love of money, Huffington Post reports.

According to him, the love of money leads to a selfish logic that could cause indifference towards others.

“Instead of being an instrument at our service for doing good and showing solidarity towards others, money can chain us and the entire world to a selfish logic that leaves no room for love and hinders peace,” the pope said.

The pope used the Biblical parable of the rich man and Lazarus to prove his point, saying, “At the root of all his ills was the failure to heed God’s word. When we close our heart to the gift of God’s word, we end up closing our heart to the gift of our brothers and sisters.”

Thus, he advised people to do things differently saying, “Let us pray for one another so that, by sharing in the victory of Christ, we may open our doors to the weak and poor.”

This is not the first time Pope Francis has spoken on the dangers of money. In 2016, he called money “the dung of the devil," when it becomes the center of anyone’s life.

He made this assessment at the International Conference of Associations of Catholic Businesses, where he said that money and riches “are good when they are put at the service of the other,” but “are wicked," when used for the wrong reasons.

This year's Lenten period will start with the customary Ash Wednesday on March 1, 2017.

What are you planning on giving up for this year's Lent?