Pope's quotes: Self-destruction

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A quote from Pope Francis:

“Why are there divisions, struggles, war, death and fanaticism? Why is there this desire for self-destruction? In the first page of the Bible, after all the wonders that God worked, a brother kills his own brother. The spirit of evil leads us to destruction; the spirit of evil leads us to disunity, to tribalism, to corruption, to drug abuse. … It leads us to destruction through fanaticism. Manuel asked me, 'What can we do to ensure that ideological fanaticism does not rob us of our brothers or friends?'. … The first thing I would say in response is that a man loses the best of his humanity, and a woman loses the best of her humanity, when they forget to pray, because they consider themselves omnipotent; they do not feel the need to ask the Lord's help when faced with so many tragedies. Life is full of difficulties, but there are two ways of looking at difficulties: either you can see them as something that obstructs you, that destroys you, or you can see them as a real opportunity. It is up to you to choose. For me, is a difficulty either a path to destruction, or an opportunity to overcome my situation, or that of my family, my community or my country?”

-- Audience with youth in Kasarani Stadium, Kenya, Nov. 28, 2015

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