Vatican City, Aug 12, 2018 / 04:31 am
It is not enough for Catholics to not do bad things, they must counter evil by actively living out charity in the performance of good deeds, Pope Francis told young people and others in St. Peter's Square Sunday.
"If we do not oppose evil, we feed it tacitly. It is necessary to intervene where evil spreads; because evil spreads where there are no daring Christians who oppose with good, 'walking in love,' according to the warning of St. Paul," the pope said Aug. 12.
Speaking to around 90,000 people in St. Peter's Square and the adjoining street before the recitation of the Angelus, Francis warned that people are guilty of the sin of omission when they could do something good but choose not to.
"It is not enough not to hate, it is necessary to forgive," he said. "It is not enough not to have a grudge, we must pray for [our] enemies… it is not enough to not speak badly about others, we must stop when we hear someone talking badly."