"Discarded People: this is the main cause of poverty, not big families." The Pope said this spontaneously in a conversation on the sidelines of this morning's General Audience. There, retracing the journey in the Philippines, he reflected on the "gatherings with families and young people, in Manila, that were the highlights of the visit." "Healthy families are essential to society's life." He emphasized that it "gives comfort and hope to see so many families who welcome children as a true gift from God." "I've heard that big families and the birth of so many children are among the causes of poverty—said Francis—That's simplistic!" "I can say—the Pope continued, raising great applause—that the main cause of poverty is an economic system that has taken the person out of the center and replaced him with the god of money, an economic system that excludes people and has created the culture of waste in which we live." "We must protect families, who face various threats, so that they can witness to the beauty of the family in God's plan," and "it is also necessary—he advocated—to defend them against the new ideological colonization that threaten their identity and mission."