Pope to Italian Steel Workers: work is essential for human dignity, should be available
to all
March 20, 2014: Pope Francis has reaffirmed that employment is essential to society,
families, and individuals and for the dignity of the human person. In a Vatican audience
Thursday for staff and families of the Italian Steel Works company at Terni. “Acciaierie
di Terni” celebrating its 130th anniversary, Pope Francis said his thoughts were directed
not only to their company and others in the region, but to “all of the working world.”
In
the current economic climate and the difficulties facing the work environment, the
Pope said, “it is necessary to reaffirm that employment is an essential reality for
society, for families and for individuals. Work, in fact, directly regards the person,
his/her life, freedom and happiness. The primary value of employment is the good of
the human person,” because, the Pope explained, it “realizes a person,” intellectually
by making demands on his or her attitudes and creative and manual abilities.
Employment,
then, should not be considered simply as a means for obtaining profit, he continued,
“but above all a purpose that affects man and his dignity. And if there is no work,
this dignity is wounded! Anyone who is unemployed or underemployed risks, in fact,
being placed on the margins of society, becoming a victim of social exclusion. Many
times it happens that people out of work - I think especially of the many unemployed
young people today - slip into chronic discouragement or worse, apathy.”
Speaking
of the “grave” unemployment problems affecting various European countries, Pope Francis
said, this “is the consequence of an economic system that is no longer able to create
jobs, because it places in its center an idol which is called money!” The Pope called
on society’s political, social and economic spheres “to promote a different approach,
based on justice and solidarity, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform
work with dignity.”
Work is an essential need, he emphasized, which “should
be available to everyone.” Creativity and solidarity are needed to confront periods
of “severe hardship and unemployment,” he said, describing as “courageous” those “creative
entrepreneurs and artisans” who “look to the future with confidence and hope.” But
he also called on all members of society to act in solidarity with those in need by
“giving up something” and adopting “a more sober lifestyle.”
In concluding,
the Pope entreated the working world to “never stop hoping for a better future” and
to not be “trapped in the vortex of pessimism!” This difficult and burdensome period
of economic turmoil can be overcome, the Pope stressed, if “everyone does their part”
by placing the dignity of the human person at the center.