Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) – This
morning in the Synod Hall the Holy Father met with participants in
the World Meeting of Popular Movements (27 to 29 October), organised
by the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace” in collaboration
with the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and with the leaders
of various movements.
The Pope spoke about the term
solidarity, “a word that is not always well accepted”, that is
much maligned and almost “unrepeatable”; however it is a word
that indicates much more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It
means thinking and acting in terms of community, of prioritising the
life of all over and above the appropriation of goods by the few. It
also means fighting the structural causes of poverty, inequality,
unemployment, lack of land and housing, and the denial of social and
labour rights. It means facing the destructive effects of the empire
of money: forced displacement, painful migration, human trafficking,
drugs, war, violence and all these situations that many of you suffer
and that we are all called upon to transform. Solidarity, in its
deepest sense, is a way of making history and this is what the
popular movements do”.
He went on to remark that this meeting
does not correspond to any form of ideology and that the movements
work not with ideas, but with reality. “It is not possible to
tackle poverty by promoting containment strategies to merely
reassure, rendering the poor 'domesticated' , harmless and passive”,
he continued. “This meeting corresponds to a more concrete desire,
that any father or mother would want for their children: an
aspiration that should be within the reach of all but which we sadly
see is increasingly unavailable to the majority: land, housing and
work. It is strange, but if I talk about this, there are those who
think that the Pope is communist”.
“Today, the phenomenon of
exploitation and oppression assumes a new dimension, a graphical and
hard edge of social injustice: those that cannot be integrated, the
marginalised, are discarded, “cast-offs”. This is the throwaway
culture … This happens when the centre of an economic system is the
god of money and not humanity, the human person. At the centre of
every social or economic system there must be the person, the image
of God, created as the denominator of the universe. When humanity is
displaced and supplanted by money, this disruption of values occurs”.
Pope Francis mentioned the problem of
unemployment, and added that “every worker, whether or not he is
part of the formal system of paid work, has the right to fair
remuneration, social security and a pension. 'Cartoneros', those who
live by recycling waste, street vendors, garment makers,
craftspeople, fishermen, farmers, builders, miners, workers in
companies in receivership, cooperatives and common trades that are
excluded from employment rights, who are denied the possibility of
forming trades unions, who do not have an adequate or stable income.
Today I wish to unite my voice to theirs and to accompany them in
their struggle”.
He went on the mention the theme of
peace and ecology. “We cannot strive for land, housing, or work if
we are not able to maintain peace or if we destroy the planet. …
Creation is not our property, that we may exploit as we please; far
less so, the property of the few. Creation is a gift, a wonderful
gift that God gave us, to care for and to use for the benefit of all,
always with respect and gratitude”.
“Why, instead of this, are we
accustomed to seeing decent work destroyed, the eviction of many
families, the expulsion of peasants from the land, war and the abuse
of nature? Because this system has removed humanity from the centre
and replaced it with something else! Because of the idolatrous
worship of money! Because of the globalisation of indifference –
'what does it matter to me what happens to others, I'll defend
myself'”. Because the world has forgotten God, the Father: it has
become an orphan because it has turned aside from God”.
He emphasised that “Christians have
something very good, a guide to action, a revolutionary programme, we
might say. I strongly recommend that you read it, that you read the
Beatitudes”.
He concluded by highlighting the
importance of walking together and remarking that “popular
movements express the urgent need to revitalise our democracies, that
are so often hijacked by many factors. It is impossible to imagine a
future for society without the active participation of the majority,
and this role extends beyond the logical procedures of formal
democracy”.
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