The Catholic Primate of All-Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady, has warned against profit-making as the only value in society and against disparaging remarks about the "poverty industry".
He was speaking in Knock Basilica yesterday at a Mass of thanksgiving for the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta attended by an estimated 10,000 people.
Reflecting on Mother Teresa's life, he said people should ask "how do we view the poor today?"
"Blackspots of poverty can sometimes be found in our own backyard. Unfortunately the rising tide, which came in with the Celtic Tiger, did not lift all boats. This month Combat Poverty issued their 2002 report. It states that 71,000 households, 5.5 per cent of the total in the Republic, were living in consistent poverty - lacking basic necessities such as food, clothing and heating," he said.
"Even as I mention poverty I realise that in some quarters it is no longer seen as correct to do so. The Mother Teresas of the world have been sometimes sidelined with some disparaging remarks about the 'poverty industry' and have been replaced as role models by fast-moving, go-getting, wealth-creating entrepreneurs.
"Of course there is an important place in society for people who take risks, work hard, create wealth and provide jobs but profit-making is not the only value and certainly not the most important one."
Mother Teresa "teaches us that the basis of true and lasting peace has to be respect for the rights of every human being and especially the rights of all people to a just share of the goods of this earth," he said.
"Her care of the dying and for the sick and for the elderly challenges a society that values appearance over substance, beauty of body rather than of soul," he said.
He added, "as we remember her today, let us pray for all voluntary groups and politicians who are challenging causes of poverty".
Among the attendance were the papal nuncio Archbishop Lazarotto, the Indian Ambassador Mr Saurabh Kumar, the Garda Commissioner Mr Noel Conroy, Archbishop Neary of Tuam, Bishop Flynn of Achonry, Bishop Jones of Elphin, Bishop Moriarty of Kildare & Leighlin, Bishop Magee of Cloyne, Bishop Boyce of Raphoe, Sister Laurence, regional superior of the Missionaries of Charity (founded by Blessed Mother Teresa) and sisters of the order from Armagh, Blarney, Sligo, and Dublin, as well as the diocesan choir from Kildare & Leighlin led by Father Liam Lawton, who composed music and hymns for the day.