poor shake a cup which never runs over by itself. Welfare programs geared to
certain emergencies can only be considered temporary responses. They will never
be able to replace true inclusion, an inclusion which provides worthy, free,
creative, participatory and fraternal work.
"Along this path, popular movements play an essential role, not only by making
demands and lodging protests, but even more basically by being creative. You
are
social poets: creators of work, builders of housing, producers of food, above
all for people left behind by the world market. I have seen at first hand a
variety of experiences where workers united in cooperatives and other forms of
community organisation were able to create work where there were only crumbs of
an idolatrous economy. Recuperated businesses, local fairs and cooperatives of
paper collectors are examples of that popular economy which is born of
exclusion
and which, slowly, patiently and resolutely adopts fraternal forms which
dignify
it. How different this is than the situation which results when those left
behind by the formal market are exploited like slaves!
"Governments which make it their responsibility to put the economy at the
service of peoples must promote the strengthening, improvement, coordination
and
expansion of these forms of popular economy and communitarian production. This
entails improving the processes of work, providing adequate infrastructures and
guaranteeing workers their full rights in this alternative sector. When the
state and social organisations join in working for the three 'L's', the
principles of solidarity and subsidiarity come into play; and these allow the
common good to be achieved in a full and participatory democracy.
"The second task is to unite our peoples on the path of peace and justice. The
world's peoples want to be artisans of their own destiny. They want to advance
peacefully towards justice. They do not want forms of tutelage or interference
by which those with greater power subordinate those with less. They want their
culture, their language, their social processes and their religious traditions
to be respected. No actual or established power has the right to deprive
peoples
of the full exercise of their sovereignty. Whenever they do so, we see the rise
of new forms of colonialism which seriously prejudice the possibility of peace
and justice. For 'peace is founded not only on respect for human rights but
also
on respect for the rights of peoples, in particular the right to independence'.
The peoples of Latin America fought to gain their political independence and
for
almost two centuries their history has been dramatic and filled with
contradictions, as they have striven to achieve full independence.
"In recent years, after any number of misunderstandings, many Latin American
countries have seen the growth of fraternity between their peoples. The
governments of the region have pooled forces in order to ensure respect for the
sovereignty of their own countries and the entire region, which our forebears
so
beautifully called the 'greater country'. I ask you, my brothers and sisters of
the popular movements, to foster and increase this unity. It is necessary to
maintain unity in the face of every effort to divide, if the region is to grow
in peace and justice.
"Despite the progress made, there are factors which still threaten this
equitable human development and restrict the sovereignty of the countries of
the
'greater country' and other areas of our planet. The new colonialism takes on
different faces. At times it appears as the anonymous influence of mammon:
corporations, loan agencies, certain 'free trade' treaties, and the imposition
of measures of 'austerity' which always tighten the belt of workers and the
poor. The bishops of Latin America denounce this with utter clarity in the
Aparecida Document, stating that 'financial institutions and transnational
companies are becoming stronger to the point that local economies are
subordinated, especially weakening the local states, which seem ever more
powerless to carry out development projects in the service of their
populations'. At other times, under the noble guise of battling corruption, the
narcotics trade and terrorism - grave evils of our time which call for
coordinated international action - we see states being saddled with measures
which have little to do with the resolution of these problems and which not
infrequently worsen matters.
"Similarly, the monopolising of the communications media, which would impose
alienating examples of consumerism and a certain cultural uniformity, is
another
one of the forms taken by the new colonialism. It is ideological colonialism.
As
the African bishops have observed, poor countries are often treated like 'parts
of a machine, cogs on a gigantic wheel'.
"It must be acknowledged that none of the grave problems of humanity can be
resolved without interaction between states and peoples at the international
level. Every significant action carried out in one part of the planet has
universal, ecological, social and cultural repercussions. Even crime and
violence have become globalised. Consequently, no government can act
independently of a common responsibility. If we truly desire positive change,
we
have to humbly accept our interdependence. Interaction, however, is not the
same
as imposition; it is not the subordination of some to serve the interests of
others. Colonialism, both old and new, which reduces poor countries to mere
providers of raw material and cheap labour, engenders violence, poverty, forced
migrations and all the evils which go hand in hand with these, precisely
because, by placing the periphery at the service of the centre, it denies those
countries the right to an integral development. That is inequality, and
inequality generates a violence which no police, military, or intelligence
resources can control.
"Let us say 'no' to forms of colonialism old and new. Let us say 'yes' to the
encounter between peoples and cultures.0 Blessed are the peacemakers.
"Here I wish to bring up an important issue. Some may rightly say, 'When the
Pope speaks of colonialism, he overlooks certain actions of the Church'. I say
this to you with regret: many grave sins were committed against the native
peoples of America in the name of God. My predecessors acknowledged this, CELAM
has said it, and I too wish to say it. Like St. John Paul II, I ask that the
Church 'kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins
of her sons and daughters'. I would also say, and here I wish to be quite
clear,
as was St. John Paul II: I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offences of
the Church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples
during the so-called conquest of America.
"I also ask everyone, believers and non-believers alike, to think of those
many
bishops, priests and laity who preached and continue to preach the Good News of
Jesus with courage and meekness, respectfully and pacifically; who left behind
them impressive works of human promotion and of love, often standing alongside
the native peoples or accompanying their popular movements even to the point of
martyrdom. The Church, her sons and daughters, are part of the identity of the
peoples of Latin America. An identity which here, as in other countries, some
powers are committed to erasing, at times because our faith is revolutionary,
because our faith challenges the tyranny of mammon. Today we are dismayed to
see
how in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and
sisters are persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus. This too
needs to be denounced: in this third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are
now experiencing, a form of genocide is taking place, and it must end.
"To our brothers and sisters in the Latin American indigenous movement, allow
me to express my deep affection and appreciation of their efforts to bring
peoples and cultures together in a form of coexistence which I would call
polyhedric, where each group preserves its own identity by building together a
plurality which does not threaten but rather reinforces unity. Your quest for
an
interculturalism, which combines the defence of the rights of the native
peoples
with respect for the territorial integrity of states, is for all of us a source
of enrichment and encouragement.
"The third task, perhaps the most important facing us today, is to defend
Mother Earth. Our common home is being pillaged, laid waste and harmed with
impunity. Cowardice in defending it is a grave sin. We see with growing
disappointment how one international summit after another takes place without
any significant result. There exists a clear, definite and pressing ethical
imperative to implement what has not yet been done. We cannot allow certain
interests - interests which are global but not universal - to take over, to
dominate states and international organisations, and to continue destroying
creation. People and their movements are called to cry out, to mobilise and to
demand - peacefully, but firmly - that appropriate and urgently-needed measures
be taken. I ask you, in the name of God, to defend Mother Earth. I have duly
addressed this issue in my Encyclical Letter 'Laudato Si''.
"In conclusion, I would like to repeat: the future of humanity does not lie
solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites. It is
fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organise. It is
in
their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of
change. I am with you. Let us together say from the heart: no family without
lodging, no rural worker without land, no labourer without rights, no people
without sovereignty, no individual without dignity, no child without childhood,
no young person without a future, no elderly person without a venerable old
age.
Keep up your struggle and, please, take great care of Mother Earth. I pray for
you and with you, and I ask God our Father to accompany you and to bless you,
to
fill you with His love and defend you on your way by granting you in abundance
that strength which keeps us on our feet: that strength is hope, the hope which
does not disappoint. Thank you and I ask you, please, to pray for me".
Today, Friday 10 July, the Holy Father will visit the detainees in Palmasola
prison and will meet privately with the bishops of Bolivia. At 12.45 p.m. local
time (6.45 p.m. Italian time) he will arrive at Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz
de la Sierra, where he will depart by air for Paraguay, the final stage of his
apostolic trip.
___________________________________________________________
Other Pontifical Acts
Vatican City, 10 July 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:
- Bishop Dominique Lebrun of Saint-Etienne, France, as metropolitan archbishop
of Rouen (area 4,228, population 868,500, Catholics 652,000, priests 135,
permanent deacons 19, religious 218), France.
- Fr. George Bugeja, O.F.M., as coadjutor of the apostolic vicariate of
Tripoli
(area 1,000,000, population 6,204,000, Catholics 50,000, priests 1, religious
11), Libya. The bishop-elect was born in Xaghara, Malta in 1962, gave his
solemn
vows in 1983, and was ordained a priest in 1986. He holds a diploma in
journalism and has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles
including guardian of the communities of Hamrun, Rabat, Gozo and Sliema; parish
priest in Sliiema; auditor of the ecclesiastical tribunal and official in the
Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. He is currently guardian of the
convent of St. Anthony of Padua in Ghajnsielem, Gozo.
___________________________________________________________
Notice
Vatican City, 10 July 2015 (VIS) - Tomorrow, Saturday 11 July, an
extraordinary
edition of the Vatican Information Service bulletin will be transmitted due to
the Pope's apostolic trip to Latin America.
___________________________________________________________
For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:
www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va
Copyright (VIS): the news contained in the services of the Vatican
Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting
the source: V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html
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* Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)
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