Fight for social and economic justice

On Friday, 20 September, Pope Francis visited the headquarters of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development for the event, “Planting a Flag Against Dehumanization”. Awaiting him were representatives of Popular Movements, marking the 10th anniversary of the first World Meeting of Popular Movements (wmpm) with the Pope, held in Rome in 2014.

A space for brotherhood among grassroots organizations from five continents, the Meeting promotes the culture of encounter in support of the “3 Ts” (Techo, Tierra, Trabajo — Housing, Land, Work), aiming to dialogue and reflect on the journey since 2014 to address today’s challenges in favour of social justice and peace in our common home.

Upon his arrival, Pope Francis sat among the participants and listened to a discussion on ensuring “no family is without a home, no peasant without land, no worker without rights, and no person without the dignity that comes from work”, as the wmpm’s motto states. He then delivered a long speech in Spanish, in which he addressed social justice, called for care for the most vulnerable and emphasized the value of “com-passion”.

The Holy Father called on the wealthy to share their resources, reminding them that wealth “is meant to be shared, to create and promote fraternity.” and that “without love, we are nothing”. All relationships should be founded on this love, he added, as justice must be pursued without violence, as exemplified by the widow in the Gospel.

Pope Francis highlighted a central theme from Evangelii Gaudium: the need to address the problems of the poor by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation. He pointed out that “we all depend on the poor, even the rich” , acknowledging that some criticize him for speaking more about the poor than the middle class, But, he stressed, it is the Gospel that places the poor at the center.

He warned that without just policies ensuring access to land, housing, and fair wages, “the logic of material and human waste will spread, paving the way for violence and desolation”. Unfortunately”, he added, “it is often the wealthiest who oppose the realization of social justice or integral ecology, out of pure greed”, which is often masked by ideology but is the same avarice that pressures governments to support harmful policies. However, he emphasized, wealth must be shared “not as alms,” but “fraternally”. He urged the Popular Movements to demand this change, noting that a “perverse view of reality” exalts the accumulation of wealth as a virtue, when in fact, it is a vice. “Accumulation is not virtuous. Distribution is. Jesus did not accumulate; He multiplied”, the Pope said, as he denounced unchecked competition for wealth as a destructive force that is “irresponsible, immoral, and irrational”.

The Holy Father urged leaders to heed the “cry of the excluded”, which has the power to awaken the consciences of political leaders responsible for enforcing economic, social, and cultural rights. These rights, he noted, are recognized by most nations and by the United Nations, although they are largely unfulfilled in the socio-economic reality.

Justice, the Pope explained, must be accompanied by compassion, which does not mean giving charity from a position of privilege but approaching others with empathy and solidarity. “True compassion builds unity and the beauty of the world”, he said. At the same time, he condemned the “culture of winners”, which is an aspect of the “culture of waste”. This practice, often based on exploiting people or nature, or benefiting from financial speculation, tax evasion, or organized crime, leads some to arrogantly despise so-called “losers”. The Pope warned that this attitude of “looking down on others with indifference or contempt” fuels violence, because silence in the face of injustice paves the way for social division, social division paves the way for verbal violence, verbal violence opens the way to physical violence, and physical violence to war”.

Pope Francis concluded by affirming the need for love in every aspect of life, because “social justice and integral ecology can only be understood through love”. The pursuit of self-interest and individualism leads to a form of “social Darwinism”, he said, in which the law of the strongest justifies indifference and cruelty. He encouraged the Popular Movements to resist any attempt to erase cultural memory or identity, symbolized by his reference to “crocodiles” who seek to devour the values of communities.

Pope Francis expressed concern about the rise of organized crime, which thrives on poverty and exclusion and called for the continued fight against criminal economy through popular economy, stressing that no child or person should be a commodity in the hands of “merchants of death”. In his closing remarks, the Holy Father renewed his call for Universal Basic Income to ensure that in the era of automation and artificial intelligence, no one is deprived of basic necessities. He emphasized that this is not just “compassion” but “strict justice”.

Lastly, he turned to young people and spoke of the importance of hope, which he described as the weakest of virtues, but one that is never disappointing: “How I wish that the new generations may find a much better world than the one we received”.

By Tiziana Campisi