Society
“It makes me very happy to see you working together towards social justice!”. This is how Pope Francis greeted the Popular Movements in his message to the participants in the Meeting that is taking place in Modesto, California, from 16 to 19 February. “How I wish that such constructive energy would spread to all dioceses, because it builds bridges between peoples and individuals”. This is the hope of Pope Francis according to whom “these are bridges that can overcome the walls of exclusion, indifference, racism, and intolerance”. For him, as the processes of “dehumanization accelerate”, Popular Movements need to acknowledge “the danger but also the opportunity that every crisis brings”. “The grave danger is to disown our neighbors” and to classify the world as “neighbor” and “non-neighbor”, instead of choosing the icon of the Good Samaritan as a way to build fraternity. Hence, we should say “no” to an “economic system that has the god of money at its center”, to hypocritical attitudes, and to false “tolerance”. “The unemployment is real, the violence is real, the corruption is real, the identity crisis is real”, the Pope wrote, recalling that “the roots of the authentic humanity that resists the dehumanization that wears the livery of indifference, hypocrisy, or intolerance” are found in mercy.
“To defend Creation” is another imperative for the Pope, in the awareness that science is not “neutral” with regard to mankind’s new achievements. “No people is criminal” and “no religion is terrorist”, the Pope stated. “Christian terrorism does not exist, Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist. There are fundamentalist and violent individuals in all peoples and religions, and with intolerant generalizations they become stronger because they feed on hate and xenophobia”. “By confronting terror with love, we work for peace”, Pope Francis concluded.
