2009-11-09 15:06:03

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.







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