"It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world."
-Mary Wollstonecraft
WITH the continuing attacks on Obamacare by republicans and tea-baggers, with the release of Rep paul ryan's budget and Sen rand paul's libertarianism , which are nothing more than a dismissal of the needs of the nation and especially the poor and disadvantaged, and with the willingness of third way democrats to lead the charge for or nation to surrender to the demands of the growing and more powerful plutocracy in this country for more wealth, power and control of the nation, I believe it is vital that the words of +pope francis become part of our national dialog. It is time for the people and politicians who proclaim to be Christian and this to be a Christian nation, a nation founded on Christian principles, to start living the Christian faith they claim guides them. Jesus Christ did not preach a gospel of prosperity (so popular in the American Christian Church today), he did not teach neglect of the poor and those in need, and he did not teach not teach paying taxes to the government was wrong. Here are the thoughts of Pope Francis on the poor, economic justice, and the responsibility of the Church and society, from Evangelii Gaudium: Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis. It is time for the Christian community, Protestant and Catholic, leadership and lay people, to do some honest soul searching about our faith, practice and attitudes and politics. And consider these words from Eleanor Roosevelt "The
trouble is that not enough people have come together with the firm
determination to live the things which they say they believe."
The Church’s teaching on social questions
182. The Church’s teachings concerning contingent
situations are subject to new and further developments and can be open
to discussion, yet we cannot help but be concrete – without presuming to
enter into details – lest the great social principles remain mere
generalities which challenge no one. There is a need to draw practical
conclusions, so that they “will have greater impact on the complexities
of current situations”.
[148]
The Church’s pastors, taking into account the contributions of the
different sciences, have the right to offer opinions on all that affects
people’s lives, since the task of evangelization implies and demands
the integral promotion of each human being. It is no longer possible to
claim that religion should be restricted to the private sphere and that
it exists only to prepare souls for heaven. We know that God wants his
children to be happy in this world too, even though they are called to
fulfilment in eternity, for he has created all things “for our
enjoyment” (
1 Tim 6:17), the enjoyment of everyone. It follows
that Christian conversion demands reviewing especially those areas and
aspects of life “related to the social order and the pursuit of the
common good”.
[149]
183. Consequently, no one can demand that religion
should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without
influence on societal and national life, without concern for the
soundness of civil institutions, without a right to offer an opinion on
events affecting society. Who would claim to lock up in a church and
silence the message of Saint Francis of Assisi or Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta? They themselves would have found this unacceptable. An
authentic faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal –
always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values,
to leave this earth somehow better that we found it. We love this
magnificent planet on which God has put us, and we love the human family
which dwells here, with all its tragedies and struggles, its hopes and
aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. The earth is our common home
and all of us are brothers and sisters. If indeed “the just ordering of
society and of the state is a central responsibility of politics”, the
Church “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for
justice”.
[150]
All Christians, their pastors included, are called to show concern for
the building of a better world. This is essential, for the Church’s
social thought is primarily positive: it offers proposals, it works for
change and in this sense it constantly points to the hope born of the
loving heart of Jesus Christ. At the same time, it unites “its own
commitment to that made in the social field by other Churches and
Ecclesial Communities, whether at the level of doctrinal reflection or
at the practical level”.
[151]
184. This is not the time or the place to examine in
detail the many grave social questions affecting today’s world, some of
which I have dealt with in the second chapter. This Exhortation is not a
social document, and for reflection on those different themes we have a
most suitable tool in the
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,
whose use and study I heartily recommend. Furthermore, neither the Pope
nor the Church have a monopoly on the interpretation of social
realities or the proposal of solutions to contemporary problems. Here I
can repeat the insightful observation of Pope
Paul VI:
“In the face of such widely varying situations, it is difficult for us
to utter a unified message and to put forward a solution which has
universal validity. This is not our ambition, nor is it our mission. It
is up to the Christian communities to analyze with objectivity the
situation which is proper to their own country”.
[152]
185. In what follows I intend to concentrate on two
great issues which strike me as fundamental at this time in history. I
will treat them more fully because I believe that they will shape the
future of humanity. These issues are first, the inclusion of the poor in
society, and second, peace and social dialogue.
II. The inclusion of the poor in society
186. Our faith in Christ, who became poor, and was
always close to the poor and the outcast, is the basis of our concern
for the integral development of society’s most neglected members.
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. A mere glance at the Scriptures is enough to make us
see how our gracious Father wants to hear the cry of the poor: “I have
observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their
cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them… so I will send you…” (
Ex 3:7-8,
10). We also see how he is concerned for their needs: “When the
Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a
deliverer” (
Jg 3:15). If we, who are God’s means of hearing the
poor, turn deaf ears to this plea, we oppose the Father’s will and his
plan; that poor person “might cry to the Lord against you, and you would
incur guilt” (
Dt 15:9). A lack of solidarity towards his or her
needs will directly affect our relationship with God: “For if in
bitterness of soul he calls down a curse upon you, his Creator will hear
his prayer” (
Sir 4:6). The old question always returns: “How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods, and sees a
brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (
1 Jn 3:17). Let
us recall also how bluntly the apostle James speaks of the cry of the
oppressed: “The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you
kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have
reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (5:4).
188. The Church has realized that the need to heed this
plea is itself born of the liberating action of grace within each of
us, and thus it is not a question of a mission reserved only to a few:
“The Church, guided by the Gospel of mercy and by love for mankind,
hears the cry for justice and intends to respond to it with all her might”.
[153] In this context we can understand Jesus’ command to his disciples: “You yourselves give them something to eat!” (
Mk 6:37):
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.
189. Solidarity is a spontaneous reaction by those who
recognize that the social function of property and the universal
destination of goods are realities which come before private property.
The private ownership of goods is justified by the need to protect and
increase them, so that they can better serve the common good; for this
reason, solidarity must be lived as the decision to restore to the poor
what belongs to them. These convictions and habits of solidarity, when
they are put into practice, open the way to other structural
transformations and make them possible. Changing structures without
generating new convictions and attitudes will only ensure that those
same structures will become, sooner or later, corrupt, oppressive and
ineffectual.
190. Sometimes it is a matter of hearing the cry of
entire peoples, the poorest peoples of the earth, since “peace is
founded not only on respect for human rights, but also on respect for
the rights of peoples”.
[154]
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]
191. In all places and circumstances, Christians, with
the help of their pastors, are called to hear the cry of the poor. This
has been eloquently stated by the bishops of Brazil: “We wish to take up
daily the joys and hopes, the difficulties and sorrows of the Brazilian
people, especially of those living in the barrios and the countryside –
landless, homeless, lacking food and health care – to the detriment of
their rights. Seeing their poverty, hearing their cries and knowing
their sufferings, we are scandalized because we know that there is
enough food for everyone and that hunger is the result of a poor
distribution of goods and income. The problem is made worse by the
generalized practice of wastefulness”.
[158]
192. Yet we desire even more than this; our dream soars
higher. We are not simply talking about ensuring nourishment or a
“dignified sustenance” for all people, but also their “general temporal
welfare and prosperity”.
[159] This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is through free, creative,
participatory and mutually supportive labour that human beings express
and enhance the dignity of their lives. A just wage enables them to have
adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our
common use.
Fidelity to the Gospel, lest we run in vain
193. We incarnate the duty of hearing the cry of the
poor when we are deeply moved by the suffering of others. Let us listen
to what God’s word teaches us about mercy, and allow that word to
resound in the life of the Church. The Gospel tells us: “Blessed are the
merciful, because they shall obtain mercy” (
Mt 5:7). The apostle James teaches that our mercy to others will vindicate us on the day of God’s judgment: “So speak
and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For
judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy, yet mercy
triumphs over judgment” (
Jas 2:12-13). Here James is faithful to
the finest tradition of post-exilic Jewish spirituality, which
attributed a particular salutary value to mercy: “Break off your sins by
practising righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the
oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your tranquillity”
(
Dan 4:27). The wisdom literature sees almsgiving as a concrete
exercise of mercy towards those in need: “Almsgiving delivers from
death, and it will purge away every sin” (
Tob 12:9). The idea is expressed even more graphically by Sirach: “Water extinguishes blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin” (
Sir 3:30).
The same synthesis appears in the New Testament: “Maintain constant
love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins” (
1 Pet 4:8)
. This
truth greatly influenced the thinking of the Fathers of the Church and
helped create a prophetic, counter-cultural resistance to the
self-centred hedonism of paganism. We can recall a single example: “If
we were in peril from fire, we would certainly run to water in order to
extinguish the fire… in the same way, if a spark of sin flares up from
our straw, and we are troubled on that account, whenever we have an
opportunity to perform a work of mercy, we should rejoice, as if a
fountain opened before so that the fire might be extinguished”.
[160]
194. This message is so clear and direct, so simple and
eloquent, that no ecclesial interpretation has the right to relativize
it. The Church’s reflection on these texts ought not to obscure or
weaken their force, but urge us to accept their exhortations with
courage and zeal. Why complicate something so simple? Conceptual tools
exist to heighten contact with the realities they seek to explain, not
to distance us from them. This is especially the case with those
biblical exhortations which summon us so forcefully to brotherly love,
to humble and generous service, to justice and mercy towards the poor.
Jesus taught us this way of looking at others by his words and his
actions. So why cloud something so clear? We should not be concerned
simply about falling into doctrinal error, but about remaining faithful
to this light-filled path of life and wisdom. For “defenders of
orthodoxy are sometimes accused of passivity, indulgence, or culpable
complicity regarding the intolerable situations of injustice and the
political regimes which prolong them”.
[161]
195. When Saint Paul approached the apostles in Jerusalem to discern whether he was “running or had run in vain” (
Gal 2:2), the key criterion of authenticity which they presented was that he should not forget the poor
(cf.
Gal 2:10).
This important principle, namely that the Pauline communities should
not succumb to the self-centred lifestyle of the pagans, remains timely
today, when a new self-centred paganism is growing. We may not always be
able to reflect adequately the beauty of the Gospel, but there is one
sign which we should never lack: the option for those who are least,
those whom society discards.
196. Sometimes we prove hard of heart and mind; we are
forgetful, distracted and carried away by the limitless possibilities
for consumption and distraction offered by contemporary society. This
leads to a kind of alienation at every level, for “a society becomes
alienated when its forms of social organization, production and
consumption make it more difficult to offer the gift of self and to
establish solidarity between people”.
[162]
The special place of the poor in God’s people
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.).
198. For the Church, the option for the poor is
primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological,
political or philosophical one. God shows the poor “his first mercy”.
[163]
This divine preference has consequences for the faith life of all
Christians, since we are called to have “this mind… which was in Jesus
Christ” (
Phil 2:5). Inspired by this, the Church has made an
option for the poor which is understood as a “special form of primacy in
the exercise of Christian charity, to which the whole tradition of the
Church bears witness”.
[164] This option – as
Benedict XVI has taught – “is implicit in our Christian faith in a God who became poor for us, so as to enrich us with his poverty”.
[165] This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the
sensus fidei,
but in their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to
let ourselves be evangelized by them. The new evangelization is an
invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in their lives and to
put them at the centre of the Church’s pilgrim way. We are called to
find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be
their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the
mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.
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”.
[166]
This loving attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their
person which inspires me effectively to seek their good. This entails
appreciating the poor in their goodness, in their experience of life, in
their culture, and in their ways of living the faith. True love is
always contemplative, and permits us to serve the other not out of
necessity or vanity, but rather because he or she is beautiful above and
beyond mere appearances: “The love by which we find the other pleasing
leads us to offer him something freely”.
[167] The poor person, when loved, “is esteemed as of great value”,
[168]
and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ from
any other ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own
personal or political interest.
Only on the basis of this real
and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path
of liberation. Only this will ensure that “in every Christian community
the poor feel at home. Would not this approach be the greatest and most
effective presentation of the good news of the kingdom?”
[169]
Without the preferential option for the poor, “the proclamation of the
Gospel, which is itself the prime form of charity, risks being
misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words which daily engulfs us
in today’s society of mass communications”.
[170]
200. Since this Exhortation is addressed to members of
the Catholic Church, I want to say, with regret, that the worst
discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The
great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they
need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his
blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of
growth and maturity in the faith. Our preferential option for the poor
must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.
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.
205. I ask God to give us more politicians capable of
sincere and effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots – and
not simply the appearances – of the evils in our world! Politics, though
often denigrated, remains a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms
of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.
[174]
We need to be convinced that charity “is the principle not only of
micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small
groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political
ones)”.
[175]
I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed
by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital
that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden
their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work,
education and healthcare. Why not turn to God and ask him to inspire
their plans? I am firmly convinced that openness to the transcendent can
bring about a new political and economic mindset which would help to
break down the wall of separation between the economy and the common
good of society.
206. Economy, as the very word indicates, should be the
art of achieving a fitting management of our common home, which is the
world as a whole. Each meaningful economic decision made in one part of
the world has repercussions everywhere else; consequently, no government
can act without regard for shared responsibility.
Indeed, it is
becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous
global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to
resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy, what is
needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of
interacting which, with due regard for the
sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.
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.
208. If anyone feels offended by my words, I would
respond that I speak them with affection and with the best of
intentions, quite apart from any personal interest or political
ideology. My words are not those of a foe or an opponent. I am
interested only in helping those who are in thrall to an
individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality to be freed from
those unworthy chains and to attain a way of living and thinking which
is more humane, noble and fruitful, and which will bring dignity to
their presence on this earth.
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!
211. I have always been distressed at the lot of those
who are victims of various kinds of human trafficking. How I wish that
all of us would hear God’s cry: “Where is your brother?” (
Gen 4:9). Where is your brother or sister who is enslaved?
Where
is the brother and sister whom you are killing each day in clandestine
warehouses, in rings of prostitution, in children used for begging, in
exploiting undocumented labour? Let us not look the other way. There is
greater complicity than we think. The issue involves everyone! This
infamous network of crime is now well established in our cities, and
many people have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable
and silent complicity.
212. Doubly poor are those women who endure situations
of exclusion, mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less
able to defend their rights. Even so, we constantly witness among them
impressive examples of daily heroism in defending and protecting their
vulnerable families.
213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to
care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most
defenceless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny
them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases,
taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in
the way of this. Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort
to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as
ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defence of unborn
life is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human
right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred
and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development.
Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other
problems. Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting
foundations for the defence of human rights, which would always be
subject to the passing whims of the powers that be. Reason alone is
sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single human life,
but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith, “every
violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in
vengeance to God and is an offence against the creator of the
individual”.
[176]
214. Precisely because this involves the internal
consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the
Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question. I
want to be completely honest in this regard. This is not something
subject to alleged reforms or “modernizations”. It is not “progressive”
to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life. On the other
hand, it is also true that we have done little to adequately accompany
women in very difficult situations, where abortion appears as a quick
solution to their profound anguish, especially when the life developing
within them is the result of rape or a situation of extreme poverty. Who
can remain unmoved before such painful situations?
215. There are other weak and defenseless beings who
are frequently at the mercy of economic interests or indiscriminate
exploitation. I am speaking of creation as a whole. We human beings are
not only the beneficiaries but also the stewards of other creatures.
Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so closely to the world around
us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical
ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement.
Let us not leave in our wake a swath of destruction and death which will
affect our own lives and those of future generations.
[177]
Here I would make my own the touching and prophetic lament voiced some
years ago by the bishops of the Philippines: “An incredible variety of
insects lived in the forest and were busy with all kinds of tasks… Birds
flew through the air, their bright plumes and varying calls adding
color and song to the green of the forests… God intended this land for
us, his special creatures, but not so that we might destroy it and turn
it into a wasteland… After a single night’s rain, look at the chocolate
brown rivers in your locality and remember that they are carrying the
life blood of the land into the sea… How can fish swim in sewers like
the Pasig and so many more rivers which we have polluted? Who has turned
the wonderworld of the seas into underwater cemeteries bereft of color
and life?”
[178]
216. Small yet strong in the love of God, like Saint
Francis of Assisi, all of us, as Christians, are called to watch over
and protect the fragile world in which we live, and all its peoples.
III. The common good and peace in society
217. We have spoken at length about joy and love, but the word of God also speaks about the fruit of peace (cf.
Gal 5:22).
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.
219. Nor is peace “simply the absence of warfare, based
on a precarious balance of power; it is fashioned by efforts directed
day after day towards the establishment of the ordered universe willed
by God, with a more perfect justice among men”.
[179]
In the end, a peace which is not the result of integral development
will be doomed; it will always spawn new conflicts and various forms of
violence.
220. People in every nation enhance the social
dimension of their lives by acting as committed and responsible
citizens, not as a mob swayed by the powers that be. Let us not forget
that “responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in
political life is a moral obligation”.
[180]
Yet becoming a people demands something more. It is an ongoing process
in which every new generation must take part: a slow and arduous effort
calling for a desire for integration and a willingness to achieve this
through the growth of a peaceful and multifaceted culture of encounter.
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.
223. This principle enables us to work slowly but
surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us
patiently to endure difficult and adverse situations, or inevitable
changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between
fullness and limitation, and to give a priority to time. One of the
faults which we occasionally observe in sociopolitical activity is that
spaces and power are preferred to time and processes. Giving priority to
space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the
present, trying to possess all the spaces of power and of
self-assertion; it is to crystallize processes and presume to hold them
back. Giving priority to time means being concerned about initiating
processes rather than possessing spaces. Time governs spaces, illumines
them and makes them links in a constantly expanding chain, with no
possibility of return. What we need, then, is to give priority to
actions which generate new processes in society and engage other persons
and groups who can develop them to the point where they bear fruit in
significant historical events. Without anxiety, but with clear
convictions and tenacity.
224. Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s
world who are really concerned about generating processes of
people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield
easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human
fullness. History will perhaps judge the latter with the criterion set
forth by Romano Guardini: “The only measure for properly evaluating an
age is to ask to what extent it fosters the development and attainment
of a full and authentically meaningful human existence, in accordance
with the peculiar character and the capacities of that age”.
[182]
225. This criterion also applies to evangelization,
which calls for attention to the bigger picture, openness to suitable
processes and concern for the long run. The Lord himself, during his
earthly life, often warned his disciples that there were things they
could not yet understand and that they would have to await the Holy
Spirit (cf.
Jn 16:12-13). The parable of the weeds among the wheat (cf.
Mt
13:24-30) graphically illustrates an important aspect of
evangelization: the enemy can intrude upon the kingdom and sow harm, but
ultimately he is defeated by the goodness of the wheat.
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).
228. In this way it becomes possible to build communion
amid disagreement, but this can only be achieved by those great persons
who are willing to go beyond the surface of the conflict and to see
others in their deepest dignity. This requires acknowledging a principle
indispensable to the building of friendship in society: namely, that
unity is greater than conflict. Solidarity, in its deepest and most
challenging sense, thus becomes a way of making history in a life
setting where conflicts, tensions and oppositions can achieve a
diversified and life-giving unity. This is not to opt for a kind of
syncretism, or for the absorption of one into the other, but rather for a
resolution which takes place on a higher plane and preserves what is
valid and useful on both sides.
229. This principle, drawn from the Gospel, reminds us
that Christ has made all things one in himself: heaven and earth, God
and man, time and eternity, flesh and spirit, person and society. The
sign of this unity and reconciliation of all things in him is peace.
Christ “is our peace” (
Eph 2:14). The Gospel message always
begins with a greeting of peace, and peace at all times crowns and
confirms the relations between the disciples. Peace is possible because
the Lord has overcome the world and its constant conflict “by making
peace through the blood of his cross” (
Col 1:20). But if we look
more closely at these biblical texts, we find that the locus of this
reconciliation of differences is within ourselves, in our own lives,
ever threatened as they are by fragmentation and breakdown.
[183] If hearts are shattered in thousands of pieces, it is not easy to create authentic peace in society.
230. The message of peace is not about a negotiated
settlement but rather the conviction that the unity brought by the
Spirit can harmonize every diversity. It overcomes every conflict by
creating a new and promising synthesis. Diversity is a beautiful thing
when it can constantly enter into a process of reconciliation and seal a
sort of cultural covenant resulting in a “reconciled diversity”. As the
bishops of the Congo have put it: “Our ethnic diversity is our wealth…
It is only in unity, through conversion of hearts and reconciliation,
that we will be able to help our country to develop on all levels”.
[184]
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.
233. Realities are greater than ideas. This principle
has to do with incarnation of the word and its being put into practice:
“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is from God” (
1 Jn 4:2). The
principle of reality, of a word already made flesh and constantly
striving to take flesh anew, is essential to evangelization. It helps us
to see that the Church’s history is a history of salvation, to be
mindful of those saints who inculturated the Gospel in the life of our
peoples and to reap the fruits of the Church’s rich bimillennial
tradition, without pretending to come up with a system of thought
detached from this treasury, as if we wanted to reinvent the Gospel. At
the same time, this principle impels us to put the word into practice,
to perform works of justice and charity which make that word fruitful.
Not to put the word into practice, not to make it reality, is to build
on sand, to remain in the realm of pure ideas and to end up in a
lifeless and unfruitful self-centredness and gnosticism.
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, nor the particular
prove barren.
236. Here our model is not the sphere, which is no
greater than its parts, where every point is equidistant from the
centre, and there are no differences between them. Instead, it is the
polyhedron, which reflects the convergence of all its parts, each of
which preserves its distinctiveness. Pastoral and political activity
alike seek to gather in this polyhedron the best of each. There is a
place for the poor and their culture, their aspirations and their
potential. Even people who can be considered dubious on account of their
errors have something to offer which must not be overlooked. It is the
convergence of peoples who, within the universal order, maintain their
own individuality; it is the sum total of persons within a society which
pursues the common good, which truly has a place for everyone.
237. To Christians, this principle also evokes the
totality or integrity of the Gospel which the Church passes down to us
and sends us forth to proclaim. Its fullness and richness embrace
scholars and workers, businessmen and artists, in a word, everyone. The
genius of each people receives in its own way the entire Gospel and
embodies it in expressions of prayer, fraternity, justice, struggle and
celebration. The good news is the joy of the Father who desires that
none of his little ones be lost, the joy of the Good Shepherd who finds
the lost sheep and brings it back to the flock. The Gospel is the leaven
which causes the dough to rise and the city on the hill whose light
illumines all peoples. The Gospel has an intrinsic principle of
totality: it will always remain good news until it has been proclaimed
to all people, until it has healed and strengthened every aspect of
humanity, until it has brought all men and women together at table in
God’s kingdom. The whole is greater than the part.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html#The_liturgical_context
