Sharing successes and creating a global structure of solidarity to achieve a civilization of love: these are the objectives of the recent pastoral letter on international development “Towards the Global Common Good” issued by the Irish Bishops’ Conference. “In previous years Ireland has harvested the fruit of world economic development says the letter but unfortunately these are not fairly divided”. We ought not however to forget “that we are part of a global economy. The policies undertaken have effects on the successes and the opportunities of others”. Just in this relation, the bishops recall the importance of interdependence, already cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That interdependence is now “growing in the modern world. It is more than a social and economic reality; it is also a spiritual and moral reality. Being humans means being called to show solidarity with others. This solidarity finds its greatest expression in the great commandment of love”. As in the first Church, solidarity should be “associated with the celebration of the eucharist”. This practice, according to the Irish Bishops’ Conference, “is still actual. As John Paul II said, the eucharist is not simply an expression of communion with the life of the Church, but is also a project of solidarity with the whole of humanity”. So we must never forget our poor brothers: “over 800 million people in the world are suffering from famine. In Ireland life expectancy is 77 years and growing, whereas in countries like Zambia it is 37 years and falling”. The presence of “sharp inequalities in the world” is therefore self-evident, and that’s why the bishops urge the Irish government to achieve the Millennium Development Goals signed in 2000.
