"We are now seeing, in the collapse of major banks, that money vanishes, it is nothing," the pope said in a televised reading. "All these things that appear to be real are in fact secondary. Only God's words are a solid reality."

The church does not have solutions to the financial crisis but can help people reflect on what is of primary importance, said Claudia Maria Celli, head of the Vatican's culture department.

"The economy is a penultimate reality," Celli said at a news conference covered by ANSA, the Italian news agency.