“Those who in life think they are righteous but judge others and disdain them are corrupt and hypocritical”, said Pope Francis in the catechesis of his Wednesday audience today, commenting on the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The tax collector who prostrates himself before the Lord acknowledging he is a sinner is “the icon of the true believer”, because “the sinner can beg for God’s forgiveness”; in this way, the tax collector “shows all of us the necessary condition for receiving the Lord’s forgiveness”. The Pharisee, by contrast, is “the icon of the corrupt man who pretends he is praying, but in reality he is just boasting about himself in front of a mirror”. “Pride – the Pope warned – undermines every good action, it empties prayer, and distances us from God and from others. God does not prefer humility because He wants to humiliate us: humility is rather the necessary condition to be raised by Him, so that we can experience that mercy which comes to fill our emptiness”.