Manifesto for a better world

On the occasion of the Day of Charity, which was celebrated on June 7, Caritas Spain launched the second phase of its annual institutional campaign “What are you doing with your brother? He loves and lives justice”. Caritas invites everyone to build “a new universal brotherhood based on the defence of the dignity and rights of all people” and points out that “we are all called by God to live fraternity, to share our meal, building and recovering life starting from a new form of relationship with others, especially with people who have less and who suffer the most”. No to indifference. “What do you do with your brother?” The Caritas campaign answer is to “go out and meet others with acts of solidarity” in the awareness that “many organizations like Caritas expect the help of volunteers willing to offer their best”. Not only: on the occasion of the launch of the second phase of the campaign Caritas invites “to adopt more sustainable and fraternal lifestyles, and not turn our backs to the ‘bleeding’ reality of over 5.4 million jobless people in our Country, nor to 845 million people suffering from chronic hunger in the world, nor to thousands of people trying to find a more dignified form of life by crossing the borders”. Moreover: “We live our lives without realizing that we are constantly treading on holy grounds, every time we draw close to the lives of people near us, every time we accompany them and welcome them, every time someone says: I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I need you”. The person first. For the second phase of the campaign Caritas presented a manifesto. “Our era – the text states – is marked by social inequalities, poverty, hunger, and most of all, the loss of fundamental rights … the exclusion of people and families in a state of poverty is increasing in a scandalous way. The rich are richer and the poor are poorer, more numerous and with less rights”. Millions of people are in the condition of being “miserable, cast out, rejected from our society, our world”. Before this “situation of impoverishment and loss of rights”, Caritas reaffirms “once again, the central role and the priority of the human person above all political, ideological and economic interests”. In fact, “the complaint of the victims that causes the structural injustice of the capitalistic system is constantly echoed in our ears and hits our conscience so that we do not remain indifferent”. Thus the invitation is “to overcome the globalization of indifference that leads us to think of ourselves only and makes us insensitive to the suffering of others. Martin Luther King used to say: ‘I am not hurt by the actions of mean people, I am hurt by the indifference of good people'”. “The time has come …”. Thus, “the time has come to be moved and to move to go towards of fallen brother. We are the guardians of the wellbeing of our brothers and sisters, we are the guardians of their rights, which recognize their inalienable dignity”. For this, as Caritas, “we wish to invite everyone to live a committed form of brotherhood”, a choice that means to be committed “to bring about a radical transformation of this society, for the creation of a more humane and fraternal option, based on solidarity”, where “everything is at the service of human beings, of the poor in particular”; “where everyone is assured a dwelling, health, education and dignified work”; “where everyone is assured the quality of public services avoiding that they are transformed into private business”. A society where “all citizens may have a minimum wage to live a dignified life; the capital and finances are controlled by public powers; where social services are guaranteed, with special care for the more vulnerable brackets thus ensuring dignified life; where there is authentic distributive justice so that the common good may prevail on the private property”. On the occasion of the Day of Charity, Caritas also asked for an economic contribution: Sunday collections of June 7 are devoted to 7 thousand parish Caritas and 70 diocesan Caritas across Spain.