Vatican City, Mar 15, 2017 / 03:41 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Business is obliged to protect peoples' dignity – and those who lay off employees solely for economic gain commit a serious sin, Pope Francis told employees of a TV platform in Italy.

“He who shuts factories and closes companies as a result of economic operations and unclear negotiations, depriving men and women from work, commits a very grave sin,” the Pope said in reference to Sky Italy’s recent cutbacks.

Vatican City, Mar 15, 2017 / 06:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis warned against the hypocrisy that comes from believing that the ability to genuinely love others is based on our own efforts or goodness, rather than being only and always a gift from God.

“We are called to love, to charity: this is our highest calling, our vocation for excellence,” he said March 15, asking: “how can we be sure that our love is sincere, that our charity is genuine?”

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis urged Catholics in Tuesday’s homily not only to avoid evil, but to pursue good in concrete actions, likening the Lenten conversion to a journey.

“Avoiding evil and learning to do good: this is the rule of conversion. Because being converted doesn’t come from a fairy who converts us with a magic wand: No! It’s a journey. It’s a journey of avoiding and of learning,” said the Pope during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- She begged and scrounged for food in the forest; she drank water from a stream with dead bodies in it; she wrapped grass on her feet in order to walk long distances in the hot sun in order to survive, facing starvation and malnourishment, all before the age of six.