VATICAN CITY — Hurling insults and being indifferent to other people’s lives is the first step along the winding path that leads to killing them, at least figuratively, Pope Francis said.

By warning that “whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment,” Jesus equates hatred with murder, the pope said Oct. 17 in his weekly general audience.

“Indifference kills. It’s like telling someone, ‘You’re dead to me,’ because you’ve killed them in your heart. Not loving is the first step to killing; and not killing is the first step to loving,” he told thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

Continuing his series of talks on the Ten Commandments, the pope reflected on Christ’s explanation of the Fifth Commandment, “Thou shall not kill.”

“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift,” Jesus said according to St. Matthew’s Gospel.

Although Christians should have “an attitude of reconciliation with people who we have had problems with,” Pope Francis said that sometimes, even while waiting for Mass to begin, “we gossip a bit and speak bad about others.”

“This can’t be done!” he exclaimed. “Let’s think about the gravity of insults, the gravity of despising someone, the seriousness of hatred. Jesus places them along the lines of murder.”

By expanding on the definition of murder, the pope explained, Jesus emphasized that every person, carrying within them the image of God, “possesses a hidden self that is no less important than their physical being,” and both easily can be destroyed.

“To offend the innocence of a child, an inappropriate phrase is enough,” he said. “To hurt a woman, a gesture of coldness is enough. To break a young man’s heart, it is enough to deny him trust. To annihilate a man, it is enough to ignore him.”

Through His life and death, Christ taught that forgiveness and mercy are “the love we cannot do without.”

In Jesus, Pope Francis said, “in His love which is stronger than death and through the power of the Spirit that the Father gives us, we can accept this (commandment) — ‘Thou shall not kill’ — as the most important and essential appeal: the call to love.”

Lack of progress fighting hunger is shameful, pope says

ROME — At a time of technological and scientific progress, “we ought to feel shame” for not having advanced in “humanity and solidarity” enough to feed the world’s poor, Pope Francis said.

“Neither can we console ourselves simply for having faced emergencies and desperate situations of those most in need. We are all called to go further. We can and we must do better for the helpless,” the pope wrote in a message to world leaders attending a meeting of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.

The World Food Day ceremony Oct. 16 marks the date the organization was founded in 1945 to address the causes of world hunger.

The theme for 2018 is “Our actions are our future: A zero hunger world by 2030 is possible.” The 2030 agenda seeks to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Local programs are just as important as global commitments to ending hunger, Pope Francis stated in his message.

According to the FAO 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, world hunger is on the rise again, and over 820 million people are suffering chronic undernourishment.

The pope called for policies of cooperation for development that are oriented toward meeting the real needs of the people: “The struggle against hunger urgently demands generous financing, the abolition of trade barriers and, above all, greater resilience in the face of climate change, economic crises and warfare,” he stated.

While one can dream of a future without hunger, the pope said it is only reasonable to do so “when we engage in tangible processes, vital relations, effective plans and real commitments.”

The poor expect real help from world leaders, he wrote, “not mere propositions or agreements.”

“We overlook the structural aspects that shroud the tragedy of hunger: extreme inequality, poor distribution of the world’s resources, consequences of climate change and the interminable and bloody conflicts which ravage many regions,” he stated.

— Anne Condodina, Catholic News Service