VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - N° 188
DATE 28-10-2014

Summary:
- The Pope in the World Meeting of Popular Movements: combat the structural
causes of poverty
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 The Pope in the World Meeting of Popular Movements: combat the structural
causes of poverty
 Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) â€" This morning in the Synod Hall the Holy Father
met with participants in the World Meeting of Popular Movements (27 to 29
October), organised by the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace� in
collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and with the
leaders of various movements.
 The Pope spoke about the term solidarity, “a word that is not always well
accepted�, that is much maligned and almost “unrepeatable�; however it
is a word that indicates much more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It
means thinking and acting in terms of community, of prioritising the life of
all over and above the appropriation of goods by the few. It also means
fighting the structural causes of poverty, inequality, unemployment, lack of
land and housing, and the denial of social and labour rights. It means facing
the destructive effects of the empire of money: forced displacement, painful
migration, human trafficking, drugs, war, violence and all these situations
that many of you suffer and that we are all called upon to transform.
Solidarity, in its deepest sense, is a way of making history and this is what
the popular movements do�.
 He went on to remark that this meeting does not correspond to any form of
ideology and that the movements work not with ideas, but with reality. “It
is not possible to tackle poverty by promoting containment strategies to
merely reassure, rendering the poor 'domesticated' , harmless and passive�,
he continued. “This meeting corresponds to a more concrete desire, that any
father or mother would want for their children: an aspiration that should be
within the reach of all but which we sadly see is increasingly unavailable to
the majority: land, housing and work. It is strange, but if I talk about this,
there are those who think that the Pope is communist�.
 “Today, the phenomenon of exploitation and oppression assumes a new
dimension, a graphical and hard edge of social injustice: those that cannot be
integrated, the marginalised, are discarded, “cast-offs�. This is the
throwaway culture … This happens when the centre of an economic system is
the god of money and not humanity, the human person. At the centre of every
social or economic system there must be the person, the image of God, created
as the denominator of the universe. When humanity is displaced and supplanted
by money, this disruption of values occurs�.
 Pope Francis mentioned the problem of unemployment, and added that “every
worker, whether or not he is part of the formal system of paid work, has the
right to fair remuneration, social security and a pension. 'Cartoneros', those
who live by recycling waste, street vendors, garment makers, craftspeople,
fishermen, farmers, builders, miners, workers in companies in receivership,
cooperatives and common trades that are excluded from employment rights, who
are denied the possibility of forming trades unions, who do not have an
adequate or stable income. Today I wish to unite my voice to theirs and to
accompany them in their struggle�.
 He went on the mention the theme of peace and ecology. “We cannot strive
for land, housing, or work if we are not able to maintain peace or if we
destroy the planet. … Creation is not our property, that we may exploit as
we please; far less so, the property of the few. Creation is a gift, a
wonderful gift that God gave us, to care for and to use for the benefit of
all, always with respect and gratitude�.
 “Why, instead of this, are we accustomed to seeing decent work destroyed,
the eviction of many families, the expulsion of peasants from the land, war
and the abuse of nature? Because this system has removed humanity from the
centre and replaced it with something else! Because of the idolatrous worship
of money! Because of the globalisation of indifference â€" 'what does it
matter to me what happens to others, I'll defend myself'�. Because the world
has forgotten God, the Father: it has become an orphan because it has turned
aside from God�.
 He emphasised that “Christians have something very good, a guide to action,
a revolutionary programme, we might say. I strongly recommend that you read
it, that you read the Beatitudes�.
 He concluded by highlighting the importance of walking together and remarking
that “popular movements express the urgent need to revitalise our
democracies, that are so often hijacked by many factors. It is impossible to
imagine a future for society without the active participation of the majority,
and this role extends beyond the logical procedures of formal democracy�.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) â€" The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Richard
Daniel Alarcon Urrutia of Tarma, Peru as metropolitan archbishop of Cuzco
(area 23,807, population 1,594,000, Catholics 1,538,000, priests 138,
religious 318), Peru.

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