VATICAN CITY, 31 JAN 2009 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican's Clementine Hall, the Pope received leaders of the Italian CISL trade union, in a meeting marking the organisation's sixtieth anniversary.
The Holy Father began by recalling how sixty years ago the CISL "took its first steps, playing an active role in establishing the free international trade-union organisation to which it brought its own contribution of a firm grounding in the principles of the Church's social doctrine and of autonomous trade-union activity free from political and party leanings".
Today, he told his audience, "you continue to draw inspiration for your activities from the social Magisterium of the Church, with the aim of protecting the interests of workers and pensioners in Italy".
Benedict XVI then went on to refer to the Church's "concern for social problems, which have increased over the last century". In this context he mentioned Leo XIII's Encyclical "Rerum novarum", which "strongly defended the inalienable dignity of workers. The guidelines contained in that document", he said, "helped to reinforce Christian influence on social life".
In 1991 John Paul II marked the hundredth anniversary of "Rerum novarum" by publishing his Encyclical "Centesimus annus". Ten years earlier, in his Encyclical "Laborem exercens", dedicated to the subject of work, the same Pope had described trade unions as "an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialised societies", said Benedict XVI.
"A recurring element in the Magisterium of twentieth-century Popes", he went on, "is the call for solidarity and responsibility. In order to overcome the economic and social crisis we are currently experiencing, we know that free and responsible efforts must be made by everyone. In other words what is needed is to overcome individual and sectorial interests, and unite to confront the difficulties affecting all areas of society, and particularly the world of work. Never before has this been so urgent as it is today; the difficulties afflicting the world of work call for closer and more effective collaboration among the many different components of society".
"My hope is that from the current global crisis there may emerge a shared desire to create a new culture of solidarity and of responsible participation, which are indispensable conditions if we are to build the future of our planet together".
"May the sixtieth anniversary of the CISL", the Pope concluded, "be a cause to renew the original enthusiasm and rediscover your original charism. The world needs people who dedicate themselves disinterestedly to the cause of work in full respect of human dignity and the common good".
AC/WORK ECONOMIC CRISIS/CISL VIS 20090202 (440)
The Holy Father began by recalling how sixty years ago the CISL "took its first steps, playing an active role in establishing the free international trade-union organisation to which it brought its own contribution of a firm grounding in the principles of the Church's social doctrine and of autonomous trade-union activity free from political and party leanings".
Today, he told his audience, "you continue to draw inspiration for your activities from the social Magisterium of the Church, with the aim of protecting the interests of workers and pensioners in Italy".
Benedict XVI then went on to refer to the Church's "concern for social problems, which have increased over the last century". In this context he mentioned Leo XIII's Encyclical "Rerum novarum", which "strongly defended the inalienable dignity of workers. The guidelines contained in that document", he said, "helped to reinforce Christian influence on social life".
In 1991 John Paul II marked the hundredth anniversary of "Rerum novarum" by publishing his Encyclical "Centesimus annus". Ten years earlier, in his Encyclical "Laborem exercens", dedicated to the subject of work, the same Pope had described trade unions as "an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialised societies", said Benedict XVI.
"A recurring element in the Magisterium of twentieth-century Popes", he went on, "is the call for solidarity and responsibility. In order to overcome the economic and social crisis we are currently experiencing, we know that free and responsible efforts must be made by everyone. In other words what is needed is to overcome individual and sectorial interests, and unite to confront the difficulties affecting all areas of society, and particularly the world of work. Never before has this been so urgent as it is today; the difficulties afflicting the world of work call for closer and more effective collaboration among the many different components of society".
"My hope is that from the current global crisis there may emerge a shared desire to create a new culture of solidarity and of responsible participation, which are indispensable conditions if we are to build the future of our planet together".
"May the sixtieth anniversary of the CISL", the Pope concluded, "be a cause to renew the original enthusiasm and rediscover your original charism. The world needs people who dedicate themselves disinterestedly to the cause of work in full respect of human dignity and the common good".
AC/WORK ECONOMIC CRISIS/CISL VIS 20090202 (440)
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