Brian R Corbin's Reflections on Religion and Life

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June 8, 2008 • 10:49 pm 0

Global Development

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRAL PROMOTION OF MANKIND

VATICAN CITY , 31 MAY 2008 ( VIS ) – At midday today, the Holy Father received members of the “Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice”, who have just concluded their annual meeting, which this year has focused on the theme: “Social Capital and Human Development”.

In his remarks to the group, the Pope noted how they have been reflecting on the need “to promote a form of global development that remains attentive to the integral promotion of mankind, while highlighting the contribution that can be made by volunteer associations, non-profit organisations and other community groups that have come into being with the aim of making the social fabric ever more cohesive.

“Harmonious development is possible”, he added, “if political and economic choices … take into account the fundamental principles which make [such development] accessible to everyone: … subsidiarity and solidarity”. The Pope also highlighted the importance of keeping humankind “as the focus of all economic planning”, and pointed out that, “only a shared culture of responsible and active participation will enable human beings to consider themselves nor just as users or passive witnesses, but active participants in world development”.

“It is necessary to prevent profit becoming purely individual, and to guard against forms of collectivism that oppress personal freedom. Economic and commercial interests must never become exclusive, because this would be an effective affront to human dignity”.

He went on: “The great challenge of today is to ‘globalise’, not just economic and commercial interests, but also the call for solidarity, while respecting and taking advantage of the contribution of all components of society”.

The Pope thanked the members of the foundation for “the generous support you tirelessly give to the Church’s charitable activities and works of human promotion”, and he invited them also to reflect “on the creation of a just world economic order”.

“On the last day, on the Day of Judgement, we will be asked whether we used what God placed at out disposal to meet legitimate requirements, to help our fellow man, especially the smallest and those most in need”, he concluded.

AC/…/CENTESIMUS ANNUS VIS 080602 (350)

Filed under: Papal Teachings, Social Doctrine, Social Justice

June 8, 2008 • 10:48 pm 0

Guatemala: Social Justice

GUATEMALA : STRENGTHEN SOLIDARITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY

VATICAN CITY, 31 MAY 2008 (VIS) – This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the Letters of Credence of Acisclo Valladares Molina, the new ambassador of Guatemala to the Holy See.

In his remarks to the diplomat, the Holy Father recalled the fact that this year marks the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s first pastoral visit to that land “of eternal spring”, and he praised the faithfulness to the Bishop of Rome with which the Guatemalans have always responded to the Holy See’s concern for their country.

“The Church”, said the Pope, “shares the concern of the Guatemalan authorities over factors that afflict a large part of the population, such as poverty and emigration. Her rich ecclesial experience, accumulated over the course of history, may be of help in finding the means to face these problems from a humanitarian perspective, and to strengthen solidarity which is indispensable in order to find effective and lasting solutions”.

“In this way”, he continued, “crucial technical and economic programmes must be supplemented by other factors that foment the dignity of the person, the stability of the family and an education that takes the most important human and Christian values into account”. Nor must “those people who have had to abandon their land, though not forgetting it in their hearts” be overlooked. “This is a duty of gratitude and justice towards those who are, in effect, also an important source of income for the country in which they were born”.

Another challenge facing Guatemala is that of “remedying the malnutrition of many children”, said Benedict XVI, observing how “eradicating hunger and, at the same time, ensuring healthy and sufficient nourishment, requires specific methods and actions that enable resources to be exploited while respecting the heritage of creation”, making use not only “of the results of science, research and technology”, but also taking into account “the cycles and rhythms of nature, as understood by people in rural areas” and protecting “the traditional uses of indigenous communities, laying aside selfish and exclusively economic concerns”.

This primary right to food, said the Pope, “is intrinsically linked to the protection and defence of human life, the firm and unbreakable rock upon which the entire edifice of human rights rests. We can never, then, show enough … concern for mothers, especially those suffering serious difficulties, so that they can bring their children into the world with dignity and thus avoid the unjustifiable recourse to abortion. In this sense, safeguarding human life, especially that of the unborn, … is an ever present task which, by its nature, is linked to facilitating the adoption of the children” with all the guarantees of the law.

In closing his remarks, the Holy Father mentioned “the blight of social violence” which is often exacerbated by “a lack of dialogue and of cohesion in families, by profound economic inequalities, by grave negligence and shortcomings in the field of healthcare, by drug consumption and trafficking, and by the plague of corruption”. In this context, he expressed his satisfaction at the progress Guatemala has made in combating these difficulties, progress “which must continue, promoting co-operation among everyone to put an end to such problems by cultivating moral values and combating illegality, impunity and corruption”.

CD/LETTERS OF CREDENCE/VALLADARES VIS 080602 (550)

Filed under: Migration, Social Doctrine, Social Justice

June 8, 2008 • 10:43 pm 0

NEW STRATEGIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER

NEW STRATEGIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER

VATICAN CITY, 3 JUN 2008 (VIS) – This morning at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. read out a Message from the Holy Father during the opening session of the “High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy”. The conference is being held at FAO headquarters from 3 to 5 June.

In his Message, the Holy Father writes that “hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world which has, in fact, levels of production, resources and knowledge sufficient to put an end to such dramas and their consequences. The great challenge of today is to ‘globalise’, not just economic and commercial interests, but also the call for solidarity, while respecting and taking advantage of the contribution of all components of society”.

To the 50 heads of State and government participating in the conference, Benedict XVI reiterates the hope he expressed before the U.N. General Assembly in April: that of overcoming “the obvious paradox of a multilateral consensus that continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a few”.

After calling on leaders “to collaborate in an increasingly transparent way with … organisations committed to closing the growing divide between rich and poor”, the Holy Father exhorts them “to continue with structural reforms which, at the national level, are indispensable in order to face the problems of underdevelopment, of which hunger and malnutrition are direct consequences”.

“Poverty and malnutrition are not a simple fatality, provoked by adverse environmental situations or by disastrous natural calamities”, writes the Pope, noting at the same time that “purely technical and economic considerations must not prevail over the duties of justice towards people suffering from hunger”.

The “primary right to food is intrinsically linked to the safeguarding and defence of human life”, he says. “Each person has the right to life. Hence it is necessary to promote the effective implementation of this right, and peoples suffering from lack of food must be helped to become gradually capable of satisfying their own need for healthy and sufficient nourishment”.

Referring to the current problem of rising prices of agricultural products, the Pope calls for the drawing-up of “new strategies to fight against poverty and to promote rural development, … through structural reform processes which enable the challenges posed by security and by climate change to be faced”.

“The global increase in agricultural production will, nonetheless, be effective only if accompanied by the effective distribution of that production, and if it is primarily destined to satisfying essential needs”.

Modern technologies, notes Benedict XVI, “are not enough to meet shortfalls in food”, and he goes on to mention the need for “political action which, inspired by those principles of natural law written in man’s heart, protects the dignity of the individual. … Only by protecting the person, then, is it possible to combat the main cause of hunger”.

If negotiations and decisions were to take respect for human dignity into account, “it would be possible to overcome otherwise-insurmountable obstacles, and to eliminate – or at least diminish – disinterest towards the good of others. … The defence of human dignity in international activity, even in emergencies, would also help to limit superfluity, with a view to the needs of others, and to administer the fruits of creation with justice, placing them at the disposal of all generations.

“In the light of such principles”, the Pope adds in conclusion, “it is my hope that the delegations present at this meeting may take on new commitments and set themselves to pursue them with great determination. The Catholic Church, for her part, wishes to unite herself to these efforts”.

MESS/FOOD/FAO:BERTONE VIS 080603 (630)

Filed under: Papal Teachings, Social Justice

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