Vatican City, 8 July 2015 (VIS) –
Shortly before 6 p.m. (local time) the Pope arrived at the Church of
St. Francis, which along with its adjacent convent, constitutes the
oldest Catholic religious building in Latin America. The site, of
great symbolic significance for the indigenous populations as the
base of the Inca and Caranqui military commanders, was acquired by
the Franciscans using funds donated from Belgium. Construction began
in 1536, the year of the foundation of Quito, and was completed in
1680, although the complex was subsequently extended and was
nicknamed “El Escorial of the New World” for its artistic and
architectural wealth, extending over three and a half hectares of
buildings (13 cloisters, three churches, more than 3,500 colonial
works of art and a splendid Franciscan library). It currently hosts
various cultural and social activities as well as schools of
painting, sculpture and engraving.
The mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas,
awaited the Holy Father at the main entrance of the Church, in order
to present him the keys to the city. Following this simple act,
without speeches, the guardian of the Franciscan community welcomed
Francis to the centre where he met with Ecuadorian civil society and
the representatives of various sectors including culture and the
economy, industrial and rural enterprise, voluntary work and sport.
The indigenous Amazon peoples were well-represented.
After receiving greetings from the
archbishop of Cuenca, Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, president of the
Commission for the Laity of the Episcopal Conference, and listening
to the words of three laypeople, the Pope pronounced a discourse
focusing on the importance of the family as the place where socially
useful values such as solidarity, gratuity and respect are learned.
“As I entered this church, the Mayor
of Quito gave me the keys to the city. So I can say that here, in
Saint Francis of Quito, I feel at home. His expression of
affectionate closeness, opening your doors to me, allows me to speak,
in turn, about a few other keys: keys to our life in society,
beginning with family life.
“Our society benefits when each
person and social group feels truly at home. In a family, parents,
grandparents and children feel at home; no one is excluded. If
someone has a problem, even a serious one, even if he brought it upon
himself, the rest of the family comes to his assistance; they support
him. His problems are theirs. Should it not be the same in society?
Our relationships in society and political life, though, are often
based on confrontation and the attempt to eliminate our opponents. My
position, my ideas and my plans will move forward if I can prevail
over others and impose my will. Is this the way a family should be?
In families, everyone contributes to the common purpose, everyone
works for the common good, not denying each person’s individuality
but encouraging and supporting it. The joys and sorrows of each are
felt by all. That is what it means to be a family! If only we could
view our political opponents or neighbours in the same way we view
our children or our spouse, mother or father! Do we love our society?
Do we love our country, the community which we are trying to build?
Do we love it in the abstract, in theory? Let us love it by our
actions more than by our words! In every person, in concrete
situations, in our life together, love always leads to communication,
never to isolation. St. Ignatius – allow me a publicity break –
St. Ignatius told us in the Exercises that love is shown more through
works than words. Le us love society in our works rather than in our
words! And he also told us that love always communicates, it tends
towards communication rather than isolation. Two criteria that can
help us to look upon society with new eyes. Not only to look at it;
to feel it, think it, touch it, love it”.
“This feeling can give rise to small
gestures which strengthen personal bonds. I have often spoken of the
importance of the family as the primary cell of society. In the
family, we find the basic values of love, fraternity and mutual
respect, which translate into essential values for society as a
whole: gratitude, solidarity and subsidiarity”.
“Parents know that all their children
are equally loved, even though each has his or her own character. But
when children refuse to share what they have freely received, this
relationship breaks down. The love of their parents helps children to
overcome their selfishness, to learn to live with others, to yield
and be patient. In the wider life of society we come to see that
'gratuitousness' is not something extra, but rather a necessary
condition of justice. Who we are, and what we have, has been given to
us so that we can place it at the service of others. Our task is to
make it bear fruit in good works. The goods of the earth are meant
for everyone, and however much someone may parade his property, it
has a social mortgage. In this way we move beyond purely economic
justice, based on commerce, towards social justice, which upholds the
fundamental human right to a dignified life. The tapping of natural
resources, which are so abundant in Ecuador, must not be concerned
with short-term benefits. As stewards of these riches which we have
received, we have an obligation toward society as a whole and towards
future generations. We cannot bequeath this heritage to them without
proper care for the environment, without a sense of gratuitousness
born of our contemplation of the created world. Among us today are
some of our brothers and sisters representing the indigenous peoples
of the Equatorial Amazon. That region is one of the 'richest areas
both in the number of species and in endemic, rare or less protected
species… it requires greater protection because of its immense
importance for the global ecosystem … it possesses an enormously
complex biodiversity which is almost impossible to appreciate fully,
yet when [such woodlands] are burned down or levelled for purposes of
cultivation, within the space of a few years countless species are
lost and the areas frequently become arid wastelands'. Ecuador –
together with other countries bordering the Amazon – has an
opportunity to become a teacher of integral ecology. We received this
world as an inheritance from past generations, but also as a loan
from future generations, to whom we will have to return it. In an
improved condition. And this is gratuity!”
“Out of the family’s experience of
fraternity is born solidarity in society, which does not only consist
in giving to those in need, but in feeling responsible for one
another. If we see others as our brothers and sisters, then no one
can be left out or set aside. Ecuador, like many Latin American
nations, is now experiencing profound social and cultural changes,
new challenges which need to be faced by every sector of society.
Migration, overcrowded cities, consumerism, crises in the family,
unemployment and pockets of poverty: all these factors create
uncertainty and tensions which threaten social harmony. Laws and
regulations, as well as social planning, need to aim at inclusion,
create opportunities for dialogue and encounter, while leaving behind
all forms of repression, excessive control or loss of freedom as
painful past memories. Hoping in a better future calls for offering
real opportunities to people, especially young people, creating
employment, and ensuring an economic growth which is shared by all
(rather than simply existing on paper, in macroeconomic statistics),
and promoting a sustainable development capable of generating a solid
and cohesive social fabric. Without solidarity this is impossible.
I referred to the young and to the lack
of work. Worldwide, this is alarming. European countries which were
at a high level a few decades ago are now experiencing rates of 40 to
50 per cent unemployment among the young population, those aged 25 or
below. Without solidarity this cannot be resolved. I said to the
Salesians [in Turin], 'Your institution was founded by Don Bosco to
educate, to give emergency education to those young people today who
have no work!' Why? Emergency, to prepare them for those little jobs
that give them the dignity of bringing home bread for the table. For
these young unemployed, those whom we call the 'neither nor' – they
neither study nor work – what prospects are left? Dependency,
sadness, depression, suicide – the statistics on suicide among the
young are not fully published – or to enlist in projects of social
madness that at least offer them an ideal? Today we are asked to take
care, in a special way, with solidarity, of this third sector of
exclusion of the throwaway culture. The first are children, because
either they are unwanted – there are developed countries where the
birthrate is almost at zero per cent – or they are killed before
they are born. Then there are the elderly, abandoned and left,
forgetting that they are the wisdom and memory of their people. They
are discarded. And now it is the turn of the young. Who has taken
their place? The servants of selfishness, the god of money at the
centre of a system that crushes everyone.
“Finally, the respect for others
which we learn in the family finds social expression in subsidiarity.
To recognise that our choices are not necessarily the only legitimate
ones is a healthy exercise in humility. In acknowledging the goodness
inherent in others, even with their limitations, we see the richness
present in diversity and the value of complementarity. Individuals
and groups have the right to go their own way, even though they may
sometimes make mistakes. In full respect for that freedom, civil
society is called to help each person and social organisation to take
up its specific role and thus contribute to the common good. Dialogue
is needed and is fundamental for arriving at the truth, which cannot
be imposed, but sought with a sincere and critical spirit. In a
participatory democracy, each social group, indigenous peoples,
Afro-Ecuadorians, women, civic associations and those engaged in
public service are all indispensable participants in this dialogue.
The walls, patios and cloisters of this city eloquently make this
point: rooted in elements of Incan and Caranqui culture, beautiful in
their proportions and shapes, boldly and strikingly combining
different styles, the works of art produced by the 'Quito school' sum
up that great dialogue, with its successes and failures, which is
Ecuador’s history. Today we see how beautiful it is. If the past
was marked by errors and abuses – how can we deny it! – we can
say that the amalgamation which resulted radiates such exuberance
that we can look to the future with great hope.
“The Church wishes for her part to
cooperate in the pursuit of the common good, through her social and
educational works, promoting ethical and spiritual values, and
serving as a prophetic sign which brings a ray of light and hope to
all, especially those most in need. Many people ask me, 'Father, why
do you speak so much about the needy, about people in need, excluded
people, those left by the wayside?'. It is simply because this
reality, and the response to this reality, is at the heart of the
Gospel. And precisely because the attitude with which we must face
this reality is inscribed in the protocol on which we will be judged,
in Matthew 25”.
Francis concluded, “Thank you for
being here, for listening to me. I ask you please to carry my words
of encouragement to the different communities and groups which you
represent. May the Lord grant that the civil society which you
represent may always be a fitting setting for experiencing and
practising these values of gratuity, solidarity and subsidiarity”.
The Holy Father ended his day with a
visit to the Church of the Society, the Society of Jesus' first
temple in Ecuador, built between 1605 and 1765, and one of the most
important architectural icons of the New World, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. Along with some Jesuits from the community, he prayed
privately before the image of Our Lady of Sorrows. The visit lasted
around half an hour, after which the Pope transferred by car to the
apostolic nuncio where he spent the night.
Today, 8 July, the Pope is scheduled to
meet with the elderly in the Missionaries of Charity rest home in
Tumbaco, and with the clergy in the El Quinche national Marian
shrine. From there, the Pope will travel to Quito airport where he
will depart for Bolivia, the second phase of his apostolic trip in
Latin America.
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