Pope Francis: Christian faith in Europe is being ‘diluted by consumerism’

Pope Francis’ general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Sept. 22,

2021. / Vatican Media. Vatican City, Sep 22, 2021 / 04:30 am (CNA).Pope Francis said Wednesday that the Christian faith in Europe is being diluted by consumerism and ideologies, making prayer and the witness of humble love especially needed today. “Pray, because this is what the People of God are called to above all: to worship, to pray, to journey, to wander, to do penance, and in this to feel the peace and the joy that the Lord gives us,” the pope said in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Sept. 22. “And this is of particular importance on the European continent, where the presence of God ... is being diluted by consumerism and in the ‘vapors’ of a unitary way of thinking ... that is the fruit of the mixture of old and new ideologies,” he said. The pope dedicated this week’s live-streamed general audience to a reflection on his recent trip to Hungary and Slovakia, which he called “a pilgrimage of prayer in the heart of Europe.” Pope Francis said that his apostolic journey on Sept. 12-15 began in Budapest with adoration of the Eucharist and ended with “popular piety” in Slovakia as he celebrated the country’s national feast of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Shrine of the Virgin of Seven Sorrows in Šaštín. Pope Francis said that the answer to Europe’s watered-down faith was the “healing that comes from prayer, witness, and humble love.” “This is what I saw in the encounter with the holy people of