The document from Pope
Francis is quite lengthy. Much has been made of the few quotes having to do
with economic justice and income inequality. Pope Francis has so much more to
say. Following are some of the things that resonated with particular depth in
my reading.
For myself, while
still greatly moved by the story of Jesus, my faith is no longer firm. Actually
it barely exists. Even the specific existence of God is more question than principle.
This is particularly so because the balance of history is heavily weighted by
evil perpetuated by the people of God, all too often in the name of God as they
chose to define it. While I recognize human
failure so much more than any shortcoming in an ill-defined, at least for me, God,
I have still been left asking how could this be? The Holocast? Rwanda? Cambodia? Birmingham in 1963? 9-11? Newtown? God
ought not to be held responsible for these horrors. What I cannot countenance is
how a real and living God, willing to answer my prayers about a problem at work,
would abandon real believers in such desperate times. Faith through that prism seems more than
illogical. In this context it more closely approximates something closer to the
actual definition of clinical insanity. The suggestion that God works in mysterious
ways is no answer. With each new atrocity it becomes ever more dissatisfying.
Still my mother wanted
us to have God in our lives, and she worked at it long enough and hard enough
that some ember still burns. My spiritual journey is a paradox, a non-believer
who prays with frequency, believing in its power in an abstract and I often
think absurd way. This I do even as my logical mind challenges any belief in
God. The evil I see every day affirming that most prayers, even from those more
devout and honorable than I, go unanswered. The mystery of faith indeed.
Then there’s that pesky count of a billion planets. The endless wars fought over a small patch in the Middle East based on any sort of religious primacy seems eminently human, religious fervor substituted for spirituality in a way that is devoid of any potential God. In the context of our known world the three major monotheist religions, including Christianity, especially Christianity, my spiritual home, seem petty, ugly, and perverse. In the context of our known universe they approach absurdity. Any faith I have seems illogical. Even so the journey continues because the foundation of my personal testament is that my knowledge is incomplete and in the end there is something wholly inadequate in a life devoid of spiritualism. The journey continues.
6
There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without
Easter. I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times
in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but
it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty
that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.
7
To some extent this is because our “technological society
has succeeded in multiplying occasions of pleasure, yet has found it very
difficult to engender joy”.[2] I can say that the most beautiful and natural
expressions of joy which I have seen in my life were in poor people who had
little to hold on to. I also think of the real joy shown by others who, even
amid pressing professional obligations, were able to preserve, in detachment
and simplicity, a heart full of faith.
14
In first place, we can mention the area of ordinary pastoral
ministry, which is “animated by the fire of the Spirit, so as to inflame the
hearts of the faithful who regularly take part in community worship and gather on
the Lord’s day to be nourished by his word and by the bread of eternal life”.[11]
In this category we can also include those members of faithful who preserve a
deep and sincere faith, expressing it in different ways, but seldom taking part
in worship. Ordinary pastoral ministry seeks to help believers to grow
spiritually so that they can respond to God’s love ever more fully in their
lives.
A second area is that of “the baptized whose lives do not
reflect the demands of Baptism”,[12]
who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the
consolation born of faith. The Church, in her maternal concern, tries to help
them experience a conversion which will restore the joy of faith to their
hearts and inspire a commitment to the Gospel.
Lastly, we cannot forget that evangelization is first and
foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or
who have always rejected him. Many of these are quietly seeking God, led by a
yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition. All
of them have a right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to
proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new
obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who
point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It
is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction”.
24
An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in
people’s daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if
necessary, and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ
in others. Evangelizers thus take on the “smell of the sheep” and the sheep are
willing to hear their voice. An evangelizing community is also supportive,
standing by people at every step of the way, no matter how difficult or lengthy
this may prove to be. It is familiar with patient expectation and apostolic
endurance. Evangelization consists mostly of patience and disregard for
constraints of time. Faithful to the Lord’s gift, it also bears fruit.
28
We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our
parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them
environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely
mission-oriented.
38
First, it needs to be said that in preaching the Gospel a
fitting sense of proportion has to be maintained. This would be seen in the
frequency with which certain themes are brought up and in the emphasis given to
them in preaching. For example, if in the course of the liturgical year a
parish priest speaks about temperance ten times but only mentions charity or
justice two or three times, an imbalance results, and precisely those virtues
which ought to be most present in preaching and catechesis are overlooked. The
same thing happens when we speak more about law than about grace, more about
the Church than about Christ, more about the Pope than about God’s word.
44
I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a
torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on
to do our best. A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be
more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves
through the day without confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be
touched by the comfort and attraction of God’s saving love, which is
mysteriously at work in each person, above and beyond their faults and
failings.
47
The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with
doors always wide open. One concrete sign of such openness is that our church
doors should always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit, comes
there looking for God, he or she will not find a closed door. There are other
doors that should not be closed either. Everyone can share in some way in the
life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors
of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason. This is especially true of
the sacrament which is itself “the door”: baptism. The Eucharist, although it
is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a
powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.[51] These convictions have
pastoral consequences that we are called to consider with prudence and
boldness. Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators.
But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there
is a place for everyone, with all their problems.
49
Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the
life of Jesus Christ. Here I repeat for the entire Church what I have often
said to the priests and laity of Buenos Aires: I prefer a Church which is
bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than
a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own
security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and then
ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something
should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so
many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and
consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith
to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going
astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up
within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which
make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door
peole are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them
something to eat” (Mk 6:37).
52
We are in an age of knowledge and information, which has led
to new and often anonymous kinds of power.
No to an economy of
exclusion
53
Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear
limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say
“thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy
kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person
dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This
is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away
while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes
under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the
powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find
themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities,
without any means of escape.
Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be
used and then discarded. We have created a “disposable” culture which is now
spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but
something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part
of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s
underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a
part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the
“leftovers”.
54
In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down
theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will
inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the
world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a
crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in
the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the
excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to
sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has
developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of
feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain,
and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s
responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are
thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime
all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they
fail to move us.
No to the new idolatry
of money
55
One cause of this situation is found in our relationship
with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our
societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it
originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human
person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf.
Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and
ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal
economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance
and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real
concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone:
consumption.
56
While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially,
so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those
happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute
autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they
reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to
exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often
virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules.
Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to
realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying
their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and
self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst
for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to
devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is
fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified
market, which become the only rule.
No to a financial
system which rules rather than serves
57
Behind this attitude lurks a rejection of ethics and a
rejection of God. Ethics has come to be viewed with a certain scornful
derision. It is seen as counterproductive, too human, because it makes money
and power relative. It is felt to be a threat, since it condemns the
manipulation and debasement of the person. In effect, ethics leads to a God who
calls for a committed response which is outside of the categories of the
marketplace. When these latter are absolutized, God can only be seen as
uncontrollable, unmanageable, even dangerous, since he calls human beings to
their full realization and to freedom from all forms of enslavement. Ethics – a
non-ideological ethics – would make it possible to bring about balance and a
more humane social order. With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and
political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to
share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their
livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs”.[55]
58
A financial reform open to such ethical considerations would
require a vigorous change of approach on the part of political leaders. I urge
them to face this challenge with determination and an eye to the future, while
not ignoring, of course, the specifics of each case. Money must serve, not
rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the
name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the
poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and a return of economics and finance
to an ethical approach which favours human beings.
No to the inequality
which spawns violence
59
Today in many places we hear a call for greater security.
But until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples is reversed,
it will be impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the poorer peoples
are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of
aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually
explode. When a society – whether local, national or global – is willing to
leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources
spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee
tranquility. This is not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent
reaction from those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic
system is unjust at its root. Just as goodness tends to spread, the toleration
of evil, which is injustice, tends to expand its baneful influence and quietly
to undermine any political and social system, no matter how solid it may
appear. If every action has its consequences, an evil embedded in the
structures of a society has a constant potential for disintegration and death.
It is evil crystallized in unjust social structures, which cannot be the basis
of hope for a better future. We are far from the so-called “end of history”,
since the conditions for a sustainable and peaceful development have not yet
been adequately articulated and realized.
60
Today’s economic mechanisms promote inordinate consumption,
yet it is evident that unbridled consumerism combined with inequality proves
doubly damaging to the social fabric. Inequality eventually engenders a
violence which recourse to arms cannot and never will be able to resolve. This
serves only to offer false hopes to those clamouring for heightened security,
even though nowadays we know that weapons and violence, rather than providing
solutions, create new and more serious conflicts. Some simply content
themselves with blaming the poor and the poorer countries themselves for their
troubles; indulging in unwarranted generalizations, they claim that the
solution is an “education” that would tranquilize them, making them tame and harmless.
All this becomes even more exasperating for the marginalized in the light of
the widespread and deeply rooted corruption found in many countries – in their
governments, businesses and institutions – whatever the political ideology of
their leaders.
64
We are living in an information-driven society which
bombards us indiscriminately with data – all treated as being of equal
importance – and which leads to remarkable superficiality in the area of moral
discernment. In response, we need to provide an education which teaches
critical thinking and encourages the development of mature moral values.
70
There is also a certain exodus towards other faith
communities. The causes of this breakdown include: a lack of opportunity for
dialogue in families, the influence of the communications media, a relativistic
subjectivism, unbridled consumerism which feeds the market, lack of pastoral
care among the poor, the failure of our institutions to be welcoming, and our
difficulty in restoring a mystical adherence to the faith in a pluralistic
religious landscape.
Challenges from urban
cultures
What is called for is an evangelization capable of shedding
light on these new ways of relating to God, to others and to the world around
us, and inspiring essential values. It must reach the places where new
narratives and paradigms are being formed, bringing the word of Jesus to the
inmost soul of our cities. Cities are multicultural; in the larger cities, a connective
network is found in which groups of people share a common imagination and
dreams about life, and new human interactions arise, new cultures, invisible
cities. Various subcultures exist side by side, and often practise segregation
and violence. The Church is called to be at the service of a difficult
dialogue. On the one hand, there are people who have the means needed to
develop their personal and family lives, but there are also many
“non-citizens”, “half citizens” and “urban remnants”. Cities create a sort of
permanent ambivalence because, while they offer their residents countless
possibilities, they also present many people with any number of obstacles to
the full development of their lives. This contrast causes painful suffering. In
many parts of the world, cities are the scene of mass protests where thousands
of people call for freedom, a voice in public life, justice and a variety of
other demands which, if not properly understood, will not be silenced by force.
Yes to the challenge
of a missionary spirituality
80
Pastoral workers can thus fall into a relativism which,
whatever their particular style of spirituality or way of thinking, proves even
more dangerous than doctrinal relativism. It has to do with the deepest and
inmost decisions that shape their way of life. This practical relativism consists
in acting as if God did not exist, making decisions as if the poor did not
exist, setting goals as if others did not exist, working as if people who have
not received the Gospel did not exist.
89
Isolation, which is a version of immanentism (the belief that God exists in and extends
into all parts of the created universe, including the individual), can find
expression in a false autonomy which has no place for God. But in the realm of
religion it can also take the form of a spiritual consumerism tailored to one’s
own unhealthy individualism. The return to the sacred and the quest for
spirituality which mark our own time are ambiguous phenomena. Today, our challenge
is not so much atheism as the need to respond adequately to many people’s
thirst for God, lest they try to satisfy it with alienating solutions or with a
disembodied Jesus who demands nothing of us with regard to others. Unless these
people find in the Church a spirituality which can offer healing and
liberation, and fill them with life and peace, while at the same time summoning
them to fraternal communion and missionary fruitfulness, they will end up by
being taken in by solutions which neither make life truly human nor give glory
to God.
94
…those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and
feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain
intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A
supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic
and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and
classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his
or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really
concerned about Jesus Christ or others.
97
Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from
above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they
discredit those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of
others and they are obsessed by appearances. Their hearts are open only to the
limited horizon of their own immanence and interests, and as a consequence they
neither learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness. This
is a tremendous corruption disguised as a good. We need to avoid it by making
the Church constantly go out from herself, keeping her mission focused on Jesus
Christ, and her commitment to the poor. God save us from a worldly Church with
superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!
99
I especially ask Christians in communities throughout the
world to offer a radiant and attractive witness of fraternal communion. Let
everyone admire how you care for one another, and how you encourage and
accompany one another: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). This was Jesus’ heartfelt prayer
to the Father: “That they may all be one... in us... so that the world may
believe” (Jn 17:21).
103, 104
Women’s role in the
church are covered in these sections but I found these comments largely
unsatisfying.
117
Hence in the evangelization of new cultures, or cultures
which have not received the Christian message, it is not essential to impose a
specific cultural form, no matter how beautiful or ancient it may be, together
with the Gospel. The message that we proclaim always has a certain cultural
dress, but we in the Church can sometimes fall into a needless hallowing of our
own culture, and thus show more fanaticism than true evangelizing zeal.
118
We cannot demand that peoples of every continent, in
expressing their Christian faith, imitate modes of expression which European
nations developed at a particular moment of their history, because the faith
cannot be constricted to the limits of understanding and expression of any one
culture.[95] It is an indisputable fact that no single culture can exhaust the
mystery of our redemption in Christ.
133
It is not enough that evangelizers be concerned to reach
each person, or that the Gospel be proclaimed to the cultures as a whole. A
theology – and not simply a pastoral theology – which is in dialogue with other
sciences and human experiences is most important for our discernment on how
best to bring the Gospel message to different cultural contexts and
groups.[110] The Church, in her commitment to evangelization, appreciates and
encourages the charism of theologians and their scholarly efforts to advance
dialogue with the world of cultures and sciences. I call on theologians to
carry out this service as part of the Church’s saving mission. In doing so,
however, they must always remember that the Church and theology exist to
evangelize, and not be content with a desk-bound theology.
Reverence for truth
147
But our own aim is not to understand every little detail of
a text; our most important goal is to discover its principal message, the
message which gives structure and unity to the text. If the preacher does not
make this effort, his preaching will quite likely have neither unity nor order;
what he has to say will be a mere accumulation of various disjointed ideas
incapable of inspiring others. The central message is what the author primarily
wanted to communicate; this calls for recognizing not only the author’s ideas
but the effect which he wanted to produce. If a text was written to console, it
should not be used to correct errors; if it was written as an exhortation, it
should not be employed to teach doctrine; if it was written to teach something
about God, it should not be used to expound various theological opinions; if it
was written as a summons to praise or missionary outreach, let us not use it to
talk about the latest news.
Personal
accompaniment in processes of growth
169
In a culture paradoxically suffering from anonymity and at
the same time obsessed with the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly
given over to morbid curiosity, the Church must look more closely and
sympathetically at others whenever necessary.
171
We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than
simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which
makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot
occur. Listening helps us to find the right gesture and word which shows that
we are more than simply bystanders.
In union with God, we
hear a plea
187
Each individual Christian and every community is called to
be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for
enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and
attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid.
188
it means working to eliminate the structural causes of
poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as small
daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter. The word
“solidarity” is a little worn and at times poorly understood, but it refers to
something more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It presumes the creation
of a new mindset which thinks in terms of community and the priority of the
life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few.
190
Sadly, even human rights can be used as a justification for
an inordinate defense of individual rights or the rights of the richer peoples.
With due respect for the autonomy and culture of every nation, we must never
forget that the planet belongs to all mankind and is meant for all mankind; the
mere fact that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less
development does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity.
It must be reiterated that “the more fortunate should renounce some of their
rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of
others”.[155] To speak properly of our own rights, we need to broaden our
perspective and to hear the plea of other peoples and other regions than those
of our own country. We need to grow in a solidarity which “would allow all
peoples to become the artisans of their destiny”,[156] since “every person is
called to self-fulfilment”.[157]
197
God’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so
that he himself “became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). The entire history of our redemption
is marked by the presence of the poor. Salvation came to us from the “yes”
uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire.
The Saviour was born in a manger, in the midst of animals, like children of
poor families; he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the
offering made by those who could not afford a lamb (cf. Lk 2:24; Lev 5:7); he
was raised in a home of ordinary workers and worked with his own hands to earn
his bread. When he began to preach the Kingdom, crowds of the dispossessed
followed him, illustrating his words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18). He assured those burdened by sorrow
and crushed by poverty that God has a special place for them in his heart:
“Blessed are you poor, yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk 6:20); he made himself
one of them: “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat”, and he taught them
that mercy towards all of these is the key to heaven (cf. Mt 25:5ff.).
199
Our commitment does not consist exclusively in activities or
programmes of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit mobilizes is not
an unruly activism, but above all an attentiveness which considers the other
“in a certain sense as one with ourselves”.
201
No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor
because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an
excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial
circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the
lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be
transformed by the Gospel,[171] none of us can think we are exempt from concern
for the poor and for social justice: “Spiritual conversion, the intensity of
the love of God and neighbour, zeal for justice and peace, the Gospel meaning
of the poor and of poverty, are required of everyone”.[172] I fear that these
words too may give rise to commentary or discussion with no real practical effect. That being
said, I trust in the openness and readiness of all Christians, and I ask you to
seek, as a community, creative ways of accepting this renewed call.
The economy and the
distribution of income
202
The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot
be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order
of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening
and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. Welfare projects,
which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary
responses. As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by
rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by
attacking the structural causes of inequality,[173] no solution will be found
for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is
the root of social ills.
203
The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the
common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. At times,
however, they seem to be a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill
out a political discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and
integral development. How many words prove irksome to this system! It is
irksome when the question of ethics is raised, when global solidarity is
invoked, when the distribution of goods is mentioned, when reference in made to
protecting labour and defending the dignity of the powerless, when allusion is
made to a God who demands a commitment to justice. At other times these issues
are exploited by a rhetoric which cheapens them. Casual indifference in the
face of such questions empties our lives and our words of all meaning. Business
is a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see
themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life; this will enable them truly
to serve the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and to
make them more accessible to all.
204
We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the
invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic
growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes,
mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of
income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the
poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an
irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are
a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force
and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.
207
Any Church community, if it thinks it can comfortably go its
own way without creative concern and effective cooperation in helping the poor
to live with dignity and reaching out to everyone, will also risk breaking
down, however much it may talk about social issues or criticize governments. It
will easily drift into a spiritual worldliness camouflaged by religious
practices, unproductive meetings and empty talk.
Concern for the
vulnerable
209
Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in
person, identifies especially with the little ones (cf. Mt 25:40). This reminds
us Christians that we are called to care for the vulnerable of the earth. But
the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not
appear to favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the
less talented to find opportunities in life.
210
It is essential to draw near to new forms of poverty and
vulnerability, in which we are called to recognize the suffering Christ, even
if this appears to bring us no tangible and immediate benefits. I think of the
homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are
increasingly isolated and abandoned, and many others. Migrants present a
particular challenge for me, since I am the pastor of a Church without frontiers,
a Church which considers herself mother to all. For this reason, I exhort all
countries to a generous openness which, rather than fearing the loss of local
identity, will prove capable of creating new forms of cultural synthesis. How
beautiful are those cities which overcome paralysing mistrust, integrate those
who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development!
How attractive are those cities which, even in their architectural design, are
full of spaces which connect, relate and favour the recognition of others!
THE COMMON GOOD AND
PEACE IN SOCIETY
218
Peace in society cannot be understood as pacification or the
mere absence of violence resulting from the domination of one part of society
over others. Nor does true peace act as a pretext for justifying a social
structure which silences or appeases the poor, so that the more affluent can
placidly support their lifestyle while others have to make do as they can.
Demands involving the distribution of wealth, concern for the poor and human
rights cannot be suppressed under the guise of creating a consensus on paper or
a transient peace for a contented minority. The dignity of the human person and
the common good rank higher than the comfort of those who refuse to renounce
their privileges. When these values are threatened, a prophetic voice must be
raised.
221
Progress in building a people in peace, justice and
fraternity depends on four principles related to constant tensions present in
every social reality. These derive from the pillars of the Church’s social
doctrine, which serve as “primary and fundamental parameters of reference for
interpreting and evaluating social phenomena”.[181] In their light I would now
like to set forth these four specific principles which can guide the
development of life in society and the building of a people where differences
are harmonized within a shared pursuit. I do so out of the conviction that
their application can be a genuine path to peace within each nation and in the
entire world.
Time is greater than
space
222
A constant tension exists between fullness and limitation.
Fullness evokes the desire for complete possession, while limitation is a wall
set before us. Broadly speaking, “time” has to do with fullness as an
expression of the horizon which constantly opens before us, while each
individual moment has to do with limitation as an expression of enclosure.
People live poised between each individual moment and the greater, brighter
horizon of the utopian future as the final cause which draws us to itself. Here
we see a first principle for progress in building a people: time is greater
than space.
Unity prevails over
conflict
226
Conflict cannot be ignored or concealed. It has to be faced.
But if we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons
shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart. In the midst of conflict, we
lose our sense of the profound unity of reality.
227
When conflict arises, some people simply look at it and go
their way as if nothing happened; they wash their hands of it and get on with
their lives. Others embrace it in such a way that they become its prisoners;
they lose their bearings, project onto institutions their own confusion and
dissatisfaction and thus make unity impossible. But there is also a third way,
and it is the best way to deal with conflict. It is the willingness to face
conflict head on, to resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new
process. “Blessed are the peacemakers!” (Mt 5:9).
Realities are more
important than ideas
231
There also exists a constant tension between ideas and
realities. Realities simply are, whereas ideas are worked out. There has to be
continuous dialogue between the two, lest ideas become detached from realities.
It is dangerous to dwell in the realm of words alone, of images and rhetoric.
So a third principle comes into play: realities are greater than ideas. This
calls for rejecting the various means of masking reality: angelic forms of
purity, dictatorships of relativism, empty rhetoric, objectives more ideal than
real, brands of ahistorical fundamentalism, ethical systems bereft of kindness,
intellectual discourse bereft of wisdom.
232
Ideas – conceptual elaborations – are at the service of
communication, understanding, and praxis. Ideas disconnected from realities
give rise to ineffectual forms of idealism and nominalism, capable at most of
classifying and defining, but certainly not calling to action. What calls us to
action are realities illuminated by reason. Formal nominalism has to give way
to harmonious objectivity. Otherwise, the truth is manipulated, cosmetics take
the place of real care for our bodies.[185] We have politicians – and even
religious leaders – who wonder why people do not understand and follow them,
since their proposals are so clear and logical. Perhaps it is because they are
stuck in the realm of pure ideas and end up reducing politics or faith to
rhetoric. Others have left simplicity behind and have imported a rationality
foreign to most people.
The whole is greater
than the part
234
An innate tension also exists between globalization and
localization. We need to pay attention to the global so as to avoid narrowness
and banality. Yet we also need to look to the local, which keeps our feet on
the ground. Together, the two prevent us from falling into one of two extremes.
In the first, people get caught up in an abstract, globalized universe, falling
into step behind everyone else, admiring the glitter of other people’s world,
gaping and applauding at all the right times. At the other extreme, they turn
into a museum of local folklore, a world apart, doomed to doing the same things
over and over, and incapable of being challenged by novelty or appreciating the
beauty which God bestows beyond their borders.
235
The whole is greater than the part, but it is also greater
than the sum of its parts. There is no need, then, to be overly obsessed with
limited and particular questions. We constantly have to broaden our horizons
and see the greater good which will benefit us all. But this has to be done
without evasion or uprooting. We need to sink our roots deeper into the fertile
soil and history of our native place, which is a gift of God. We can work on a
small scale, in our own neighbourhood, but with a larger perspective. Nor do
people who wholeheartedly enter into the life of a community need to lose their
individualism or hide their identity; instead, they receive new impulses to
personal growth. The global need not stifle,
Dialogue between
faith, reason and science
242
Dialogue between science and faith also belongs to the work
of evangelization at the service of peace.[189] Whereas positivism and
scientism “refuse to admit the validity of forms of knowledge other than those
of the positive sciences”,[190] the Church proposes another path, which calls
for a synthesis between the responsible use of methods proper to the empirical
sciences and other areas of knowledge such as philosophy, theology, as well as
faith itself, which elevates us to the mystery transcending nature and human
intelligence. Faith is not fearful of reason; on the contrary, it seeks and
trusts reason, since “the light of reason and the light of faith both come from
God”[191] and cannot contradict each other. Evangelization is attentive to
scientific advances and wishes to shed on them the light of faith and the
natural law so that they will remain respectful of the centrality and supreme
value of the human person at every stage of life. All of society can be
enriched thanks to this dialogue, which opens up new horizons for thought and
expands the possibilities of reason. This too is a path of harmony and peace.
243
The Church has no wish to hold back the marvellous progress
of science. On the contrary, she rejoices and even delights in acknowledging
the enormous potential that God has given to the human mind. Whenever the
sciences – rigorously focused on their specific field of inquiry – arrive at a
conclusion which reason cannot refute, faith does not contradict it. Neither can
believers claim that a scientific opinion which is attractive but not
sufficiently verified has the same weight as a dogma of faith. At times some
scientists have exceeded the limits of their scientific competence by making
certain statements or claims. But here the problem is not with reason itself,
but with the promotion of a particular ideology which blocks the path to
authentic, serene and productive dialogue. nor the particular prove barren.
Interreligious
dialogue
250
An attitude of openness in truth and in love must
characterize the dialogue with the followers of non-Christian religions, in
spite of various obstacles and difficulties, especially forms of fundamentalism
on both sides. Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in
the world, and so it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious
communities. This dialogue is in first place a conversation about human
existence or simply, as the bishops of India have put it, a matter of “being
open to them, sharing their joys and sorrows”.[194] In this way we learn to
accept others and their different ways of living, thinking and speaking. We can
then join one another in taking up the duty of serving justice and peace, which
should become a basic principle of all our exchanges. A dialogue which seeks
social peace and justice is in itself, beyond all merely practical
considerations, an ethical commitment which brings about a new social
situation. Efforts made in dealing with a specific theme can become a process
in which, by mutual listening, both parts can be purified and enriched. These
efforts, therefore, can also express love for truth.
254
Non-Christians, by God’s gracious initiative, when they are
faithful to their own consciences, can live “justified by the grace of
God”,[199] and thus be “associated to the paschal mystery of Jesus
Christ”.[200] But due to the sacramental dimension of sanctifying grace, God’s
working in them tends to produce signs and rites, sacred expressions which in
turn bring others to a communitarian experience of journeying towards God.[201]
While these lack the meaning and efficacy of the sacraments instituted by Christ,
they can be channels which the Holy Spirit raises up in order to liberate
non-Christians from atheistic immanentism or from purely individual religious
experiences. The same Spirit everywhere brings forth various forms of practical
wisdom which help people to bear suffering and to live in greater peace and
harmony. As Christians, we can also benefit from these treasures built up over
many centuries, which can help us better to live our own beliefs.
Social dialogue in a
context of religious freedom
257
As believers, we also feel close to those who do not
consider themselves part of any religious tradition, yet sincerely seek the
truth, goodness and beauty which we believe have their highest expression and
source in God. We consider them as precious allies in the commitment to
defending human dignity, in building peaceful coexistence between peoples and
in protecting creation.
The spiritual savour
of being a people
270
Sometimes we are tempted to be that kind of Christian who
keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s length. Yet Jesus wants us to touch human
misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop
looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the
maelstrom of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other
people’s lives and know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become
wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people,
to be part of a people.
274
If we are to share our lives with others and generously give
of ourselves, we also have to realize that every person is worthy of our
giving. Not for their physical appearance, their abilities, their language,
their way of thinking, or for any satisfaction that we might receive, but
rather because they are God’s handiwork, his creation. God created that person
in his image, and he or she reflects something of God’s glory. Every human
being is the object of God’s infinite tenderness, and he himself is present in
their lives. Jesus offered his precious
blood on the cross for that person. Appearances notwithstanding, every person
is immensely holy and deserves our love. Consequently, if I can help at least
one person to have a better life, that already justifies the offering of my
life.
