杏MAP导航

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ

鈥淒ear Social Poets,鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis said, beginning his on Saturday.

鈥淚 like to call you this: Social Poets,鈥� he explained, 鈥渂ecause you have the ability and the courage to create hope where there appears to be only waste and exclusion. Poetry means creativity, and you create hope.鈥�

鈥淲ith your hands, you know how to forge the dignity of each person, of families and of society as a whole, with land, shelter, work, care, and community,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said.

Dedication: a proclamation of hope

The Holy Father thanked the Popular Movements for their dedication which is 鈥渁 word of authority capable of contradicting the silent and often polite denials鈥� to which they are subjected.

He was addressing participants in the IV World Meeting of Popular Movements, an event that seeks to discuss and share the ongoing social struggles and propose new forms of action to defend workers鈥� rights by overcoming the structural causes of poverty and injustice.

The Meeting brings together activists from the most marginalized communities of society and participants include street vendors, artisans, fishermen, farmers, builders, miners, Christian workers of various trades and professions.

鈥淚n thinking of you,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥淚 believe your dedication is above all a proclamation of hope鈥� reminding us that 鈥渨e are not condemned to repeat or to build a future based on exclusion and inequality, rejection or indifference; where the culture of privilege is an invisible and irrepressible power and exploitation and abuse are a habitual method of survival.鈥�

Dialogue

Commenting on the reflections and testimonies from their meeting, 杏MAP导航 Francis highlighted the importance of dialogue 鈥渂orn in the peripheries鈥� which has come to Rome and 鈥渨here we may all feel we are invited and called upon.鈥�

He added that since the last general meeting six years ago, 鈥渁 lot has changed,鈥� - changes that mark points of no return, turning points and crossroads - 鈥渁t which humanity must make choices.鈥�

鈥淭here is a need for new moments of encounter, discernment and concerted action,鈥� he said, warning that returning to previous mindsets 鈥渨ould truly be suicidal and if [he] may press the point, a little ecocidal and genocidal.鈥�

Pandemic

杏MAP导航 Francis noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed social inequalities and 鈥渢he heartbreaking situation of so many brothers and sisters.鈥� He added that we all have experienced the 鈥減ain of lockdown鈥� especially people without basic infrastructure who were left more vulnerable, migrants, undocumented persons and informal workers without a fixed income.

He also lamented the 鈥渟courge of the food crisis鈥� affecting millions in spite of advances in biotechnology. He noted that 20 million more people have been dragged into extreme levels of food insecurity this year, with increased destitution and increases in food prices. He expressed concern about the possibility of annual deaths from hunger exceeding those from Covid-19.

Silent pandemic of chronic anxiety

The Holy Father then referred to a 鈥渟ilent pandemic鈥� of chronic anxiety linked to various factors such as 鈥渉yperconnectivity, disorientation and lack of future prospects,鈥� made worse by a lack of real contact with others and ultimately, the lack of real contact with friends, 鈥渂ecause friendship is the form in which love always resurges.鈥�

In this regard, he affirmed that 鈥渢echnology can be a tool for good鈥� that permits dialogues 鈥渂ut it can never substitute contact between us,鈥� and the community 鈥渋n which we can be rooted and which ensures that our life may become fruitful.鈥�

Popular Movements: A veritable invisible army

鈥淚 wish to thank you because you have felt the pain of others as your own,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said to the Popular Movements. 鈥淵ou know how to show the face of true humanity, the humanity that is not built by turning your back on the suffering of those around you, but in the patient, committed and often even painful recognition that the other person is our brother and that his or her anguish, joys and sufferings are also ours.鈥�

鈥淵ou are鈥�a veritable invisible army鈥� he added, 鈥渁 fundamental part of that humanity that fights for life against a system of death.鈥� He said we are called to change the structures of sin and fight the deep-seated resistance to the changes we need and long for.

The Holy Father then expressed hope that this beatitude may 鈥渆xtend, permeate and anoint鈥� every space where life is threatened, adding that 鈥減ersonal change is necessary, but it is also indispensable to adapt our socio-economic models so that they have a human face, because many models have lost it.鈥�

Appeals 鈥渋n the name of God鈥�

杏MAP导航 Francis went on to make a series of nine appeals 鈥渋n the name of God鈥�. He appealed to big laboratories to liberalize patents and allow every country to have access to the vaccine; to financial groups and credit institutions to waive debts in order to allow poor countries to guarantee the basic needs of their people; to big extractive companies to stop destroying forests, wetland and mountains and polluting rivers and seas; to big corporations to stop monopolistic production and distribution structures that inflate prices and withhold bread from the hungry; and to arms manufacturers and dealers to cease their activity that foments violence and war.

The Holy Father also called on technology giants to stop exploiting the vulnerability of people to gain profit; on the giants of telecommunications to liberalize access to educational material to help educate poor children during quarantine; on the media to stop the logic of post-truth, disinformation, and an unhealthy attraction for scandal and contribute to human fraternity and empathy; and on powerful companies to stop blockades and unilateral sanctions against countries.

鈥淭his system, with its relentless logic of profit, is getting out of all human control. It is time to put the brakes on the locomotive, an out-of-control locomotive that is carrying us towards the abyss. There is still time,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said.

Then, addressing governments and politicians, he urged them to represent their peoples and work for the common good, listening to the people and not only the economic elites who are 鈥渟o often the mouthpieces of superficial ideologies that evade the real dilemmas of humanity.鈥�

Likewise, the 杏MAP导航 called on religious leaders never to use the name of God 鈥渢o foment wars or coups鈥� but to stand by the people 鈥渁nd fight together with them so that integral human development may become a reality.鈥� He encouraged them to be 鈥渂ridges of love so that the voice of the periphery with its weeping, but also with its singing and its joy, provokes not fear but empathy in the rest of society.鈥�

Dreaming together

鈥淟et us dream together, dream between yourselves, dream with others,鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis invited 鈥� dreams 鈥渙f freedom and equality, of justice and dignity, the dreams of fraternity, that have improved the world.鈥�

Dreams 鈥渢ranscend the narrow limits imposed on us and propose new possible worlds,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, adding, that dreams are dangerous for those who defend the status quo because they 鈥渃hallenge the paralysis that the egoism of the strong and the conformism of the weak want to impose.鈥�

He urged everyone to confront together 鈥渢he populist discourses of intolerance, xenophobia, and aporophobia鈥� (hatred of the poor) which have only served to 鈥渄ivide our peoples, and to undermine and neutralise our poetic capacity, our ability to dream together.鈥�

Recalling his words to representatives of the Popular Movements in Bolivia, the 杏MAP导航 reiterated: 鈥渢he future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, through your ability to organise and carry out creative alternatives鈥�.

Emerging better from the crisis

Insisting that 鈥渨e will not come out of this pandemic crisis the same. Either we will emerge better or we will emerge worse,鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis asked: 鈥淗ow will we emerge from this crisis? Better or worse?鈥�

To emerge better, he explained, we 鈥渉ave to break the bonds of what is easy, and of the docile acceptance that 鈥榯here is no alternative鈥�,鈥� because that resignation 鈥渃ancels us out so we can take refuge only in 鈥榚very man for himself鈥欌��. 鈥淟et us choose the difficult path. Let us come out better,鈥� he urged.

The 杏MAP导航 then thought of the parable of the Good Samaritan which he used in Fratelli tutti, noting that it is the 鈥渃learest representation of this committed option in the Bible.鈥� He recalled the protests that followed the death of George Floyd (a 46-year-old African American who was killed in May 2020 by a police officer in Minneapolis during an arrest) noting that there was the 鈥淐ollective Samaritan鈥� as people did not turn the other way when they saw 鈥渢he wound to human dignity, afflicted by such an abuse of power.鈥�

Solidarity and subsidiarity

Proposing some guidelines 鈥渙n the future that we must build and dream,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 turned to the social doctrine of the Church which does not have all the answers, but has 鈥渟ome principles that can help along this journey to provide concrete answers, and to help Christians and non-Christians alike.鈥�

The Holy Father pointed at the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. He said that solidarity,  both a moral virtue and a social principle, 鈥渟eeks to confront unjust systems鈥� in order to build a culture of solidarity that expresses 鈥渁 firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good.鈥�

On subsidiarity, he noted that it is a principle that stimulates and promotes participation between movements and peoples 鈥渃apable of limiting any authoritarian mindset, any forced collectivism or any state-centric mindset.鈥�

He emphasized that with these well-balanced and well-established principles in the Social Doctrine of the Church principles, 鈥渨e can accomplish the next step from dream to action. Because it is time for action.鈥�

Universal wage, reduction of the working day

Recalling past meetings in which the Movements have spoken about concrete measures to bring significant change, including urban integration, family farming and popular economy, 杏MAP导航 Francis went on to add two more: the universal wage and the reduction of the working day.

He said that a minimum wage or Universal basic income (UBI) is such that everyone in the world may have access to the most basic necessities of life. He added that it is right to fight for a humane distribution of these resources and it is up to governments to establish tax and redistribution schemes so that the wealth of one party is shared fairly without implying an unsustainable burden, especially on the middle class.

The 杏MAP导航 also noted that minimum income is a possibility but the reduction of the working day is another. He insisted that 鈥渨orking fewer hours so that more people can have access to the labor market is something we need to explore with some urgency.鈥�

Concluding, 杏MAP导航 Francis expressed his conviction that 鈥渢he world can be seen more clearly from the peripheries鈥� and thus, we must listen to the peripheries, open the doors to them and allow them to participate. He urged the Popular Movements to reaffirm the commitment made in Bolivia to 鈥渢o place the economy at the services of peoples to build a lasting peace based on social justice and on care for the Common Home.鈥�

Finally, the 杏MAP导航 called on God to pour out His blessings on our dreams and urged everyone not to lose hope.