Pope Francis has condemned society for its shameless pursuit of "ambition and vainglory" in an astonishing Good Friday address - even calling out ministers within his own Catholic Church.
During the speech in Rome, he said everyone should be contrite about the state of the world, and ashamed "for having lost a sense of shame".
The Pope also asked a collective forgiveness for a variety of sins, apologising for those - including Catholic ministers - that'd been power-hungry, vain, and selfish.
"So many people, even some of your [God's] ministers, have let themselves be deceived by ambition and vainglory, thereby losing their worthiness," he said.
Pope Francis said people should be ashamed about a world "fractured by divisions and wars, a world devoured by selfishness, in which the young, the sick, the old are marginalised."
The 81-year-old led a crowd of 20,000 on the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) Good Friday procession around Rome's Colosseum, a ritual re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
He then urged the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics to regain a sense of shame and use that feeling to make the world a better place.
Pope Francis concluded his address by praising those ministers who help the poor, immigrants, and prison inmates.
Newshub.
