VATICAN CITY — People in positions of authority should care for the vulnerable and exercise their power with humility, not with hypocrisy and arrogance, Pope Francis said. Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark, the pope highlighted Jesus’ warning about “the hypocritical attitude of some scribes” who use their prestige in the community to look down on others. “This is very ugly, looking down on another person from above,” the pope told visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 10. “They put on airs and, hiding behind a facade of feigned respectability and legalism, arrogated privileges to themselves and even went so far as to commit outright theft to the detriment of the weakest, such as widows.” In contrast, Jesus “taught very different things about authority,” Pope Francis said. “He spoke about it in terms of self-sacrifice and humble service, of maternal and paternal tenderness toward people, especially those most in need,” he said. “He invites those invested with it to look at others from their position of power, not to humiliate them, but to lift them up, giving them hope and assistance.
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