Holy See says social development, integration must include human, spiritual dimensions

(February 5, 2010) Good laws and social measures and incentives are indeed important for social cohesion and integration, but what is more important is the promotion of the integral good of the human person in his various dimensions, including the spiritual. Archbishop Celestino Migliore made the point on Thursday at a session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC, that discussed social integration. Archbishop Migliore who is the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN in New York noted that in the current world situation marked by economic and financial crisis, the promotion of social integration must include poverty eradication and full employment, including decent work for all. The state needs to focus on relational goods and services which promote greater connection between people, such as medical care, education, culture, art and sport. Archbishop Migliore regretted that all too often population growth is viewed as the cause of poverty whereas, he said, it is a means of overcoming it, for only within the work force can the solution for poverty be found. Countries must focus their efforts on finding the ways and means for ensuring that people receive the necessary skills, training and education so that human ingenuity can be harnessed in a way which promotes development and human rights. The solution to countries experiencing economic decline does not lie in pushing for population decline, but rather in creating a society which is open to and encourages life. Archbishop Migliore thus called for promoting life and the family and finding ways to integrate the contribution of all people to allow societies to realize their full potential and achieve development.