Pope says true development should be based on solidarity
(November 9, 2009) As the world is growing more globalized, authentic development
that aims at the true integral good of every man should also grow in solidarity, said
Pope Benedict XVI. He was speaking to some 300 participants in an international congress
in Rome that is discussing the Church’s response to the phenomenon of migration in
today’s globalized world. The 4-day meeting organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical
Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Workers began on Monday. Speaking
of migrants, the German-born Pontiff noted that many abandon their countries to escape
humanly unacceptable living conditions at home, without however finding the welcome
they hope for elsewhere. Faced with this complex situation, he said one cannot but
reflect on the consequences of a society that is based on mere material development.
Recalling his latest encyclical, ‘Caritas in Veritate’, he said that true development
can only be that which is integral to every man and to the whole man. Authentic
development should grow more in solidarity, the Pope said, adding, the common good
and the effort to obtain it cannot fail to assume the dimensions of the whole human
family, that is to say, the community of peoples and nations. Recalling Pope John
Paul II’s teaching on this, he said the process of globalization could be an auspicious
occasion for promoting integral development, only if cultural differences are welcomed
as an occasion of meeting and dialogue, and if the unequal distribution of the world’s
resources leads to a new awareness of the need for solidarity that must unite the
human family. Pope Benedict said, the phenomenon of migration is an invitation to
throw light on the unity of the human family, the value of welcome, hospitality and
love of neighbour, which he said should be translated in daily action of sharing,
participation, and solicitude towards others, especially the needy, the Pope said.