'Vanity is like osteoporosis of the soul' - Pope Francis warns against false saints

'...the bones on the outside look good, but inside they are all ruined.'

Pope Francis delivered his morning homily on Friday, where he told the crowd which sin "sickens the soul."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the Catholic Herald, Pope Francis shared the root of all evil lies in the following three sins: Greed,  pride and vanity.

The Pontiff lingered over vanity, saying those who are vain feel compelled to hide their sins and mistakes behind a facade.

People who are vain, he described, are like scam artists who "mark the cards" to win, even if the win is empty of

His Holiness warned such behavior "sickens the soul," adding: "Vanity is like osteoporosis of the soul, the bones on the outside look good, but inside they are ruined."

Citing Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 and Luke 9:7-9, the Pope described the differences between vanity and King Herod's anxieties born of the possibility his reign would come to a premature end.

Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit moves during times of difficulty and a bit of vanity opens our hearts to change - but King Herod's unease stemmed "from a dirty conscience."

When the two King Herods attempted to assuage their fears by killing people, they were attempting to move forward "over people's dead bodies" - but those who do evil and have a bad conscience "cannot live in peace because they live with a constant itch, with hives that don't leave them in peace."

The Pontiff continued, explaining the three seeds of evil - "greed, vanity and pride" - never stop attacking the conscience but instead sew fear and consumes the mind and heart.

Real saints live their faith, while the vain parade around going to church each Sunday, make charitable donations and appears perfect on the outside but suffer an "osteoporosis" of corruption internally.

Pope Francis reminded us that Jesus is the only truth, "not the masquerade of vanity" and added, "May the Lord free us from these three roots of all evil."

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