Pope sends message to popular movements meeting in
California
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| Pope Francis meeting with workers during a World Meeting of Popular Movements in Santa Cruz, Bolivia in July 2015.-REUTERS |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to hundreds
of faith and community leaders taking part in a regional meeting of popular
movements in Modesto, California, in the United States.
The encounter, taking place from February 16th to 18th, has
been organised with the support of the Vatican’s new Dicastery for the
Promotion of Integral Human Development, the U.S. Catholic Campaign for Human
Development and the National Network of People Improving Communities through
Organizing (PICO).
We must become good neighbours to any person in need. That
was Pope Francis’ message to the leaders of popular movements that are working
for structural changes in society to promote greater social, economic and
racial justice.
Reflecting on the current global crisis, driven by what he
called the “invisible tyranny of money”, the Pope said we must find
opportunities to respond with compassion to those suffering most from the
violence, corruption and injustice in our societies.
The god of money leaves people by the wayside
Speaking of the parable of the Good Samaritan, Pope Francis
said an economic system that has the god of money at its center can act
with the same brutality as the robbers in that story. While we try to ignore
the injuries it causes, he said, the suffering is televised live yet “nothing
is done systematically to heal the wounds or to confront the structures that
leave so many brothers and sisters by the wayside”
Shifting blame for society's ills
But Pope Francis told the leaders of grassroots
organizations that “the system’s gangrene cannot be whitewashed forever because
sooner or later the stench becomes too strong”. When it can no longer be
denied, he said, the same power that spawned this state of affairs sets about
manipulating peoples’ fear, insecurity and indignation in order to shift the
responsibility onto a “non-neighbour” who can be blamed for society’s ills.
Follow the example of the Good Samaritan
We must follow the examples of the Samaritan and the
innkeeper, the Pope said, by providing practical support for those suffering in
body and spirit. He urged the popular movements to persevere in combatting the
ecological crisis and in standing alongside migrants or those who are branded
as criminals or terrorists.
No people is criminal, no religion is terrorist
No people is criminal and no religion is terrorist, he
insisted, adding that there are fundamentalists and violent individuals in all
peoples and religions. With intolerant generalisations, he said, they become
stronger, feeding on hate and xenophobia, but by confronting terror with love,
we work for peace.
Please find below the full English language text of Pope
Francis’ message:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
First of all, I would like to congratulate you for your effort in replicating on
a national level the work being developed in the World Meetings of Popular
Movements. By way of this letter, I want to encourage and strengthen each one
of you, your organizations, and all who strive with you for “Land, Work and
Housing,” the three T’s in Spanish: Tierra, Trabajo y Techo. I congratulate you
for all that you are doing.
I would like to thank the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, its chairman
Bishop David Talley, and the host Bishops Stephen Blaire, Armando Ochoa and
Jaime Soto, for the wholehearted support they have offered to this meeting.
Thank you, Cardinal Peter Turkson, for your continued support of popular
movements from the new Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human
Development. It makes me very happy to see you working together towards social
justice! How I wish that such constructive energy would spread to all dioceses,
because it builds bridges between peoples and individuals. These are bridges
that can overcome the walls of exclusion, indifference, racism, and
intolerance.
I would also like to highlight the work done by the PICO National Network and
the organizations promoting this meeting. I learned that PICO stands for
“People Improving Communities through Organizing”. What a great synthesis of
the mission of popular movements: to work locally, side by side with your
neighbors, organizing among yourselves, to make your communities thrive.
A few months ago in Rome, we talked at the third World Meeting of Popular
Movements about walls and fear, about bridges and love. Without wanting
to repeat myself, these issues do challenge our deepest values.
We know that none of these ills began yesterday. For some time, the crisis of
the prevailing paradigm has confronted us. I am speaking of a system that
causes enormous suffering to the human family, simultaneously assaulting
people’s dignity and our Common Home in order to sustain the invisible tyranny
of money that only guarantees the privileges of a few. “In our time humanity is
experiencing a turning-point in its history.”
As Christians and all people of good will, it is for us to live and act at this
moment. It is “a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless
effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanization
which would then be hard to reverse.” These are signs of the times that
we need to recognize in order to act. We have lost valuable time: time when we
did not pay enough attention to these processes, time when we did not resolve
these destructive realities. Thus the processes of dehumanization accelerate.
The direction taken beyond this historic turning-point—the ways in which this
worsening crisis gets resolved—will depend on people’s involvement and
participation and, largely, on yourselves, the popular movements.
We should be neither paralyzed by fear nor shackled within the conflict. We
have to acknowledge the danger but also the opportunity that every crisis
brings in order to advance to a successful synthesis. In the Chinese language,
which expresses the ancestral wisdom of that great people, the word “crisis” is
comprised of two ideograms: Wēi, which represents “danger”, and Jī, which
represents “opportunity”.
The grave danger is to disown our neighbors. When we do so, we deny their
humanity and our own humanity without realizing it; we deny ourselves, and we
deny the most important Commandments of Jesus. Herein lies the danger, the
dehumanization. But here we also find an opportunity: that the light of the
love of neighbor may illuminate the Earth with its stunning brightness like a
lightning bolt in the dark; that it may wake us up and let true humanity burst
through with authentic resistance, resilience and persistence.
The question that the lawyer asked Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (10:25-37)
echoes in our ears today: “Who is my neighbor?” Who is that other whom we are
to love as we love ourselves? Maybe the questioner expects a comfortable
response in order to carry on with his life: “My relatives? My compatriots? My
co-religionists? ...” Maybe he wants Jesus to excuse us from the obligation of
loving pagans or foreigners who at that time were considered unclean. This man
wants a clear rule that allows him to classify others as “neighbor” and
“non-neighbor”, as those who can become neighbors and those who cannot become
neighbors.
Jesus responds with a parable which features two figures belonging to the elite
of the day and a third figure, considered a foreigner, a pagan and unclean: the
Samaritan. On the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the priest and the Levite
come upon a dying man, whom robbers have attacked, stripped and abandoned. In
such situations the Law of the Lord imposes the duty to offer assistance, but
both pass by without stopping. They were in a hurry. However, unlike these
elite figures, the Samaritan stopped. Why him? As a Samaritan he was looked
down upon, no one would have counted on him, and in any case he would have had
his own commitments and things to do—yet when he saw the injured man, he did
not pass by like the other two who were linked to the Temple, but “he saw him
and had compassion on him” (v. 33). The Samaritan acts with true mercy: he
binds up the man's wounds, transports him to an inn, personally takes care of
him, and provides for his upkeep. All this teaches us that compassion, love, is
not a vague sentiment, but rather means taking care of the other to the point
of personally paying for him. It means committing oneself to take all the
necessary steps so as to “draw near to” the other to the point of identifying
with him: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the Lord’s
Commandment.
The economic system that has the god of money at its center, and that sometimes
acts with the brutality of the robbers in the parable, inflicts injuries that
to a criminal degree have remained neglected. Globalized society frequently
looks the other way with the pretence of innocence. Under the guise of what is
politically correct or ideologically fashionable, one looks at those who suffer
without touching them. But they are televised live; they are talked about in
euphemisms and with apparent tolerance, but nothing is done systematically to
heal the social wounds or to confront the structures that leave so many
brothers and sisters by the wayside. This hypocritical attitude, so different
from that of the Samaritan, manifests an absence of true commitment to
humanity.
Sooner or later, the moral blindness of this indifference comes to light, like
when a mirage dissipates. The wounds are there, they are a reality. The
unemployment is real, the violence is real, the corruption is real, the
identity crisis is real, the gutting of democracies is real. The system’s
gangrene cannot be whitewashed forever because sooner or later the stench
becomes too strong; and when it can no longer be denied, the same power that
spawned this state of affairs sets about manipulating fear, insecurity,
quarrels, and even people’s justified indignation, in order to shift the
responsibility for all these ills onto a “non-neighbor”. I am not speaking of
anyone in particular, I am speaking of a social and political process that
flourishes in many parts of the world and poses a grave danger for humanity.
Jesus teaches us a different path. Do not classify others in order to see who
is a neighbor and who is not. You can become neighbor to whomever you meet in
need, and you will do so if you have compassion in your heart. That is to say,
if you have that capacity to suffer with someone else. You must become a
Samaritan. And then also become like the innkeeper at the end of the parable to
whom the Samaritan entrusts the person who is suffering. Who is this innkeeper?
It is the Church, the Christian community, people of compassion and solidarity,
social organizations. It is us, it is you, to whom the Lord Jesus daily
entrusts those who are afflicted in body and spirit, so that we can continue
pouring out all of his immeasurable mercy and salvation upon them. Here are the
roots of the authentic humanity that resists the dehumanization that wears the
livery of indifference, hypocrisy, or intolerance.
I know that you have committed yourselves to fight for social justice, to
defend our Sister Mother Earth and to stand alongside migrants. I want to
reaffirm your choice and share two reflections in this regard.
First, the ecological crisis is real. “A very solid scientific consensus
indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic
system.” Science is not the only form of knowledge, it is true. It is
also true that science is not necessarily “neutral”—many times it conceals
ideological views or economic interests. However, we also know what happens when
we deny science and disregard the voice of Nature. I make my own everything
that concerns us as Catholics. Let us not fall into denial. Time is running
out. Let us act. I ask you again—all of you, people of all backgrounds
including native people, pastors, political leaders—to defend Creation.
The other is a reflection that I shared at our most recent World Meeting of
Popular Movements, and I feel is important to say it again: no people is
criminal and no religion is terrorist. Christian terrorism does not exist,
Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist. They do
not exist. No people is criminal or drug-trafficking or violent. “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 will eventually explode.” There are fundamentalist and violent
individuals in all peoples and religions—and with intolerant generalizations
they become stronger because they feed on hate and xenophobia. By confronting
terror with love, we work for peace.
I ask you for meekness and resolve to defend these principles. I ask you not to
barter them lightly or apply them superficially. Like Saint Francis of Assisi,
let us give everything of ourselves: where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, let us sow pardon; where there is discord, let us sow
unity; where there is error, let us sow truth.
Please know that I pray for you, that I pray with you, and I ask God our Father
to accompany and bless you. May He shower you with his love and protect you. I
ask you to please pray for me too, and to carry on.
Vatican City, 10 February 2017
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