CARDINAL CAHAL Daly has urged people not to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others at a time of "global and national gloom and worry and fear" and he said the crisis had taught that people could not put their trust in money.
In a Christmas message delivered on Vatican Radio this weekend, Cardinal Daly noted all media were filled with reports of deepening economic recession.
"Businesses, large and small, are collapsing every day. Jobs are being lost or threatened. Homes are being repossessed. There are old people who cannot afford to buy enough food or enough warmth simply to survive," he said.
"At the same time, there is still worse poverty in other continents: millions are chronically hungry or are suffering from poverty-related diseases and without medical care. How are we to celebrate Christmas in a world of desperate need, a world of shameful inequality, a world of gross injustice?"
He said the greatest thing people could give and share was their faith. "Faith is the one treasure of which we are sure and certain. The global recession which we are passing through now has surely taught us that we cannot put our trust in money, however carefully banked it is, no matter how securely invested it is."
He recalled the words of Jesus in Matthew's gospel, when he said: "Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal."