Pope to Ambassadors: Crisis is both material and spiritual
Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s address, delivered in
French:
“Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors,
It is with joy that
I welcome you this morning for the presentation of your Letters accrediting you as
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of your respective countries to the Holy
See: the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Malaysia, Ireland, the Republic
of Fiji and Armenia. You have come to express the cordial greetings of your Heads
of State and I thank you. Would you please convey to them my greetings and my respectful
wishes for them and the high office they perform in service to their country and their
people. I also wish to greet through you, all the civil and religious authorities
of your Nations and all of your compatriots. My thoughts also turn naturally to the
Catholic communities in your countries, to assure them of my prayers”.
“The
development of mass communications has made our planet, somehow, smaller. The ability
to know almost immediately the events taking place worldwide, just as the needs of
peoples and individuals, is an urgent call to be close to them in their joys and in
their difficulties. The reality of the great suffering caused worldwide by poverty
and misery, both material and spiritual, invites a new mobilization to respond, in
justice and solidarity, to all that threatens human society and its environment”.
“Urban
migration, armed conflict, famine and pandemics, which affect so many people, dramatically
develop poverty which today has taken on new forms. The global economic crisis has
brought more and more families to an increasingly precarious situation. While the
creation and multiplication of needs led people to believe in the possibility of unlimited
enjoyment and consumption, once the necessary means to satisfy these needs were lacking,
feelings of frustration emerged. Loneliness due to exclusion increased. And when poverty
coexists with the very rich, a perception of unfairness is born that can become a
source of rebellion. It is therefore appropriate that States ensure that the social
laws do not increase inequalities and enable people to live decently”.
“For
this, consideration must be given to helping people overcome this shortfall, by rendering
them actors in their society, enabling them to take charge of their own future, helping
them to occupy a place within society according to their abilities. Because "man is
more precious for what he is than for what he has" (CONC. VAT. II, Gaudium et spes,
35). Development for which every nation aspires each should concern the integral person,
not economic growth alone. This belief must become an effective will for action. Experiments
such as microcredit, and initiatives to create equitable partnerships, show that it
is possible to harmonize economic goals with social needs, democratic governance and
respect for nature. It is also good, for example […] to promote manual labour and
to promote an agriculture that is first of all at the service of the inhabitants”.
“The quality of human relationships and resource sharing are the foundation of society,
allowing each to have his or her place and live with dignity in accordance with their
aspirations”.
“For strengthening the human foundation of the socio-political
reality, we must be attentive to another kind of poverty: that of the loss reference
to spiritual values, to God. This vacuum makes discernment between good and evil as
well as the overcoming of personal interests for the common good, more difficult.
It makes it easier to adhere to ideals currently in fashion and avoid the necessary
effort of reflection and criticism. And many young people in search of an ideal, turn
to artificial paradises which destroy them. Addiction, consumerism and materialism,
do not fill the heart of man made for infinity. For the greatest poverty is the lack
of love. In distress, compassion and selfless listening are a great comfort. Even
without great material resources, it is possible to be happy. Living simply in harmony
with what we believe, should remain a possibility, and become ever more possible.
I encourage all efforts undertaken, particularly in favour of families. Moreover,
education must awaken to the spiritual dimension as "the human being develops when
he grows in the spirit" (Caritas in veritate, 76). Such education helps build and
strengthen more authentic bonds because it opens up to a more fraternal society which
it helps to build”.
“States have the duty to promote their cultural and religious
heritage which contributes to the development of a nation, and to facilitate access
to all, for in familiarising oneself with history, each individual is brought to discover
the roots of his or her own existence. Religion permits us to recognize in the other
a brother in humanity. Allowing all the opportunity to know God, and in full freedom,
means helping to forge a strong interior personality which enables him to witness
to good and accomplish good even if it comes at a cost. "Openness to God makes us
open towards our brothers and sisters and towards an understanding of life as a joyful
task to be accomplished in a spirit of solidarity" (Caritas in veritate, 78).
In this way we can build a society where experiences of sobriety and fellowship will
help reduce poverty, and take precedence over the indifference and selfishness of
profit and waste, and above all over exclusion”.