‘Money Is to Serve, Not Govern,’ Pope Tells Business Leaders... from ZENIT of Roswell, Georgia, United States for Thursday, 17 November 2016Like
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‘Money Is to Serve, Not Govern,’ Pope Tells Business Leaders by ZENIT Staff
Money is to serve, not to govern.
Addressing participants in the Vatican conference hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and UNIAPAC, Nov. 17-18, on the theme ‘Business Leaders as Agents of Economic and Social Inclusion,’ the Pontiff expressed this to business executives, reported Vatican Radio.
The conference is aimed at promoting business leaders as agents in social and economic inclusion, reflecting with them on three challenges of business: the proper use of money, honesty, and solidarity.
In his native Spanish, Francis urged them to be aware of what believes are three challenges of doing business: “the good use of money, honesty, and solidarity”.
Using Money Well
Saying money is “one of the most difficult topics of moral perception” and can be “the dung of the devil,” Francis noted its function is to serve, not govern.
“Money does not have a neutral value; rather, it acquires value according to the end and circumstances for which it is used. When one affirms the neutrality of money, they fall into its power. Businesses should not exist to make money, even if money serves to mediate its functioning. Businesses exist to serve.”
Francis warned against when money causes some to exploit others and hurt the poor.
Honesty
Addressing the second challenge for business people of being honest, Francis noted: “Corruption is the worst social plague.”
It is a “law of the jungle stripped of any social reason” and “an idol,” he said. “Any attempt at corruption, active or passive, is to begin to adore the god of money.”
Solidarity
Solidarity, the Pontiff said, is the third challenge of business, and an important aspect of this element is gratuity.
“The just relationship between managers and workers,” he said, “should be respected and required by all parties. However, at the same time, a business is a community of work, in which all merit respect and fraternal appreciation from their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates.” A respect, he said, which should “extend also to the local community”.
Francis urged business people to collaborate “to create sources of dignified, stable, and abundant work, both in those places from which migrants originate and those in which they arrive… It is important to continue making immigration an important factor of development.”
Pope Francis concluded with a mention of the vocation of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), the chief tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus pass by and was converted by his efforts.
“May this conference be like the Sycamore of Jericho – a tree upon which all can climb – so that, through the scientific discussion of the aspects of business activities, they may encounter the sight of Jesus and from here they may obtain efficacious orientations to make their business activities always promote the common good.”
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Pope Speaks About What ‘Pains God’s Heart’ at Morning Mass by Deborah Castellano Lubov
God is seeking us…Are we allowing Him to visit us? To seek us and give us love and happiness?
According to Vatican Radio, during his morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta today, Pope Francis called on those present to ask themselves these questions.
The Holy Father drew his inspiration from today’s readings about the episode proclaimed from the Gospel according to St. Mark, in which Our Lord wept for the sins of Jerusalem.
The Jesuit Pontiff reflected on the great contrast between God’s unceasing love for us and His people, and our faithlessness. Francis reminded those gathered that what really pains the Lord’s heart is that despite how much He loves us, looks for us and desires our happiness, we do not acknowledge Him.
“Jesus saw in that moment [when, shortly before His passion, He wept over Jerusalem’s sinfulness] what awaited him as the Son – and He wept … ‘because they did not recognize the time of their visitation,” Francis reflected, noting, “This drama has not only happened in history and ended with Jesus. It is the drama of every day. It is even my drama.”
Can we really say…
Can any of us really say, ‘I know how to recognize the hour in which I have been visited? Does God visit me?’”
The Pope went on to highlight the way that the Liturgy of two days ago – Tuesday – offered occasions to reflect on three moments of God’s visitation: correction, entering into dialogue with us, and “inviting himself into our home.”
Pope Francis then asked the faithful to make an examination of conscience, to ask whether each one of us listens to the words of Jesus when He knocks on our door and says, “Amend your life!”
Everyone in fact runs a risk.
“Each of us,” Francis warned, “can fall into the same sin of the people of Israel, the same sin of Jerusalem, not recognizing the time in which we have been visited – and every day the Lord visits us, every day He is knocking at our door – but we must learn to recognize this, that we not end up in that so painful a situation: ‘The more I loved them, as I called them, the more they fled from me’.
‘But I am sure of things. I go to Mass, I’m sure …’ Francis said, calling on them to ask themselves: “Do you make a daily examination of conscience on this? Did the Lord visit me today? Have I heard some call, some inspiration to follow Him more closely, to do a work of charity, to pray a little more? I do not know, so many things to which the Lord invites us every day to meet with us.”
Given this, the Pope stressed, it is central therefore to recognize when we are “visited” by Jesus, and open ourselves to His love.
“Jesus wept not only for Jerusalem, but for all of us. He gives His life, that we might recognize his visitation. St. Augustine said a word, a very strong sentence: ‘I am afraid of God, of Jesus, when He passes!’
Is He visiting you….
“But why are you afraid? ‘I’m afraid I will not recognize it!’ If you’re not careful with your heart, you’ll never know if Jesus is visiting you or not.”
Pope Francis concluded, praying, “May the Lord give all of us the grace to recognize the times we have been visited, we are visited and shall be visited, so that we open the door to Jesus and so ensure that our heart is more enlarged by love, and that we might therefore serve the Lord Jesus in love.”
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Pope Meets Patriarch of Assyrian Church of the East by ZENIT Staff
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Holiness, Beloved Brothers in Christ,
It is a great joy and an occasion of grace to meet you here at Saint Peter’s tomb. I welcome you affectionately, thanking you for the kind words that were addressed to me. Through you, I wish to extend my cordial greeting in the Lord to all the Bishops, priests and faithful of the Assyrian Church of the East. With the words of the Apostle Paul, who shed his blood for the Lord in this city, I would like to say to you: “Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7).
This meeting and the prayer we will raise together today to the Lord invoke precisely the gift of peace. We are in fact consternated by all that continues happening in the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria. Shed there, on hundreds of thousands of innocent children, women and men, is the terrible violence of bloody conflicts, which no reason can justify or permit. There our Christian brothers and sisters, as well as different religious and ethnic minorities, are accustomed, unfortunately, to suffer daily great trials.
In the midst of so much pain, for which I implore an end, every day we see Christians that go on the way of the cross, following meekly in the footsteps of Jesus, uniting themselves to Him, who has reconciled us with His cross, “bringing hostility to an end (Ephesians 2:16).” These brothers and sisters are models that exhort us to remain with the Lord in every circumstance, to embrace His cross, to trust in His love. They indicate to us that the presence of Jesus is always at the center of our faith, who invites us, also in adversity, not to tire of living His message of love, of reconciliation and of forgiveness. We learn this from the martyrs and from all those who again today, also at the cost of their life, remain faithful to the Lord and with Him overcome evil with good (cf. Romans 12:21). We are grateful to these our brothers, who impel us to follow Jesus’ way to defeat enmity. As the Blood of Christ, shed out of love, has reconciled and united, making the Church blossom, so the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christian unity. This calls us to spend ourselves with fraternal charity for communion. I thank God for the firm fraternal bond that already exists between us and that this visit, so pleasing and precious, reinforces further. Many significant steps have already been taken. Your beloved predecessor, the Catholicos –Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, that I had the joy to meet two years ago, signed with Saint John Paul II here at Rome, the Joint Christological Declaration. This enables us to confess the same faith in the mystery of the Incarnation. This historic goal has opened the way to our pilgrimage towards full communion, a path that I ardently desire to continue. I confirm the Catholic Church’s commitment to this course, for the benefit of our communities, which often already live in close contact. Therefore, I earnestly hope that the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East is able to help us smooth the way towards the much awaited day, in which we will be able to celebrate the Lord’s Sacrifice at the same altar, as a real sign of fully re-established ecclesial communion.
In the meantime, we have the opportunity to take quick steps, growing in mutual knowledge and witnessing the Gospel together. May our closeness be leaven of unity. We are called to work together, in charity, wherever possible, so that love indicates the way of communion. In Baptism, we rediscovered the foundation of real communion between us. Catholics and Assyrians, “for by one Spirit, we were all baptized” (1 Corinthians 12:13); we belong to the one Body of Christ, we are brothers in Him. We proceed with this certainty, walking confidently together, nourishing – in prayer and especially at the Lord’s altar – the charity that “binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians3:14). It resets fractures and heals lacerations. Let us not tire of asking the Lord, divine doctor, to heal the wounds of the past with the beneficent anointing of His mercy.
It will also do us good to renew the common memory of our evangelizing activity. It finds its roots in the communion of the primitive Church. Originating from there was the spread of the Gospel that, at the dawn of the faith, reached Rome and the lands of Mesopotamia, cradle of very ancient civilizations, giving birth to flourishing Christian communities. The then great evangelizers, the saints and martyrs of all times, all fellow citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, exhort us and accompany us now to open, together, fruitful paths of communion and witness.
Holiness, beloved Brother, with joy and affection I wish to express my gratitude for your visit and for the gift of praying together today for one another, to invoke the protection and custody of the Lord, to ask that His merciful will be fully received and fraternally witnessed by us.[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
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Pope’s Prepared Address to Caritas Internationalis by ZENIT Staff
At 11 o’clock this morning, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the representative council of Caritas Internationalis in the Vatican. In the course of the meeting, the Pope spoke off-the-cuff, answering some questions posed by participants in the audience. While awaiting the transcription of the dialogue with those present, we translate below the text of the address prepared by the Holy Father for the occasion, which was delivered to those present:
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THE ADDRESS PREPARED BY THE HOLY FATHER
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet you all warmly, members of the Representative Council and of the staff of Caritas Internationalis. I am happy to receive you at the end of your institutional meeting and to meet, through you, the entire family of the national Caritas and all those who, in your respective countries, are committed in the service of the Church’s charity. I thank Cardinal Antonio Tagle, your President, for the words with which he introduced this meeting.
The Church “exists to evangelize,” but evangelization requires being adapted to different situations, taking into account family and social life, as well as international life with special attention to peace, justice and development (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 29). At the opening of the Synod on the New Evangelization, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that the two pillars of evangelization are “Confessio et Caritas”; and I myself dedicated a chapter of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium to the social dimension of evangelization, reaffirming the Church’s preferential option for the poor. Therefore, we are called to act against the social exclusion of the weakest and to work for their integration. In fact, our societies are often dominated by the “disposable” culture; they are in need of overcoming indifference and withdrawal into themselves to learn the art of solidarity. Because “we who are strong — says Saint Paul –, ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1).
This makes us understand how fundamental is the mission of the various national Caritas and their specific role in the Church. In fact, they are not social agencies but ecclesial organisms that share in the mission of the Church. As is written in your Statutes, you are called to “assist the Pope and the bishops in their ministry of charity” (Article 1.4). Today’s social urgencies require that, what Saint John Paul II described as, a “new imagination of charity” be put into play (Novo Millenio Ineunte, 50): it is rendered concrete not only in the efficacy of the aid given, but especially in the capacity of making oneself close, accompanying the most disadvantaged with an attitude of fraternal sharing. It is about making charity and justice shine in the world in the light of the Gospel and of the teaching of the Church, involving the poor themselves so that they become the true protagonists of their development.
I thank you so much, on behalf of the Church, for what you do for the least. I encourage you to continue in this mission, which makes the Church feel as a true fellow traveler, close to the heart and to the hopes of the men and women of this world. Continue to take the message of the joy of the Gospel to the whole world, especially to those left behind, but also to those who have the power to change things, because it is possible to change. Poverty, hunger, sickness, oppression are not a fatality and cannot represent permanent situations. Trusting in the strength of the Gospel, we can truly contribute to change things or at least to improve them. We can reaffirm the dignity of those who await a sign of our love and protect and build together “our common home.”
I invite you to have prophetic courage always, to reject everything that humiliates man and every form of exploitation that degrades. Continue to give those small and great signs of hospitality and solidarity that have the capacity to illumine the life of children and elderly, of migrants and refugees in search of peace. I am very happy to learn that Caritas Internationalis, in fact, will carry forward a Campaign on the subject of migrations. I hope that this beautiful initiative will open the hearts of many to receive refugees and migrants, so that they can truly feel “at home” in our communities. May it be your care to support, with renewed commitment, the processes of development and the paths of peace in the countries from which these, our brothers and sisters, flee or leave in search of a better future.
Be architects of peace and reconciliation between peoples, between communities and between believers. Put all your energies, your commitment in the field to work in synergy with other faith communities that, like you, put a person’s dignity at the center of their attention. Fight against poverty and, at the same time, learn from the poor. Let yourselves be inspired and guided by their simple and essential life, by their values, by their sense of solidarity and sharing, by their capacity to overcome difficulties and especially by their lived experience of the suffering Christ, He who is the only Lord and Savior. Learn also, therefore, from their life of prayer and their trust in God.
I hope that, with the support and pastoral attention of the Bishops, you can be increasingly witnesses of a generous ministry of charity, helping the community of believers to be a place of proclamation of the Gospel, of celebration of the Eucharist and of service in joy to the poor.
I invoke the intercession of Mary, our heavenly Mother and, while I ask you to pray for me, I gladly implore the Lord’s blessing upon you and upon those that support you in your work.[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
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New Documentary ‘Pope Francis: In His Own Words’ Debuts in Vatican by ZENIT Staff
The new documentary ‘Pope Francis in His Own Words’ debuted in the Vatican on Tuesday.
Produced by TV news agency Rome Reports and with collaboration from the Mideast Theological Forum of Chicago, the 46-minute documentary, through filmed accounts, allows one to experience the Pope’s testimony about his family, his vocation and his vision of the Church.
The heartwarming account also shares about how his grandmother influenced his faith, and recalls how he discovered his vocation to the priesthood. It takes one also inside the places in Argentina which were significant in young Jorge’s life, where he dreamed, where he experienced forgiveness.
For instance, one was able to see the home where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born, his school, and the church where he discerned he was being called to be a priest.
Along with these personal touches, the documentary includes key events of his pontificate, particularly emotional moments during his Apostolic Visit to the United States in Sept. 2014, including the warm welcome he received when speaking to the U.S. Congress and to the U.N and at the World Meeting of Families.
At various times during his pontificate, Francis shared personal details about himself and anecdotes about his life. This documentary brought together these tender moments, especially those mentioned during General Audiences, Angelus addresses, and while meeting with different people in the Vatican and while traveling.
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INTERVIEW: Archbishop Hindo: ‘Sharia Law Denies Freedom of Worship’ by Federico Cenci
“Islam does not conceive what we call freedom of worship,” stresses Syro-Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo of Hassake-Nisibi in Syria. As for the rest, hard is the condition lived by the religious minorities in that decimated region of war and Muslim fundamentalism.
Among the reporters of the conference to present the “2016 Report on Religious Freedom” of Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Hindo gave his direct testimony without censure of coexistence with an Islam of the majority.
“I could mention hundreds of verses of the Koran, in which the homicide is authorized of one who is not Muslim,” he explains to ZENIT. However, what is worrying is not so much the presence of these verses in the holy Book, but the literal interpretation of the same by many Muslims.
Not only Daesh (acronym of the Islamic State in Arabic, ndr), belongs to certain fringes but also that galaxy of “300 or 400 organizations” that fight against the Damascus Government.
Their fidelity to “hard and pure Islam,” namely, to Sharia – adds the Prelate — renders them inevitably intolerant of any other worship. It is forbidden for a Muslim to abjure his faith,” according to “laws transmitted orally.” Moreover, for one who isn’t a Muslim, considered in a contemptuous way a dhimmi, the payment is rendered obligatory of a tribute to the Authorities, the punishment being his physical elimination.
According to Archbishop Hindo, an Islam cannot exist that is not also political and exclusivist. For this reason he has put the accent in particular on the Wahabit wing, which sinks its historical roots in Saudi Arabia and which still prospers in that kingdom and radiates in the Arab world and not only in it. “Wahabit is the Islam of the Daesh militias and Wahabit is the Islam that is taught in the Koranic schools financed by the monarchies of the Gulf” and spread everywhere.
It is in these places, perhaps, that a great portion of those “close to 300,000 Western foreign fighters have gone to Syria in the last years to carry out the jihad. The Archbishop’s voice breaks with emotion when he recalls that every day he must mourn at least one soldier of the Syrian army from his diocese (which also includes Raqqa, capital of the Islamic State).
And then he points the finger at the West, culpable – according to him — “of having financed armed groups” that, although they are presented as “moderates,” do not differ from Daesh. They are united by the same intentions, whose pursuit foresees the elimination of any obstacle. See then that ISIS does not only kill Christians but anyone who does not adhere to their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, including lukewarm Muslims.
When Archbishop Hindo’s gaze pauses on the present war zones a strong diffidence is revealed also in the confrontations of the Kurds, “who seek to take possession of Hassake and of the surrounding area. “
However, now the most immediate problem is posed by Islamic groups. The Russian army has begun a vast operation against them at Idlib and Homs, while new bombardments are registered on Aleppo after a three-day truce.
In fact the liberation of the important northern city of Syria can represent – according to the Archbishop – the antechamber to the end of the hostilities. “We wait with confidence,” he glosses.
Archbishop Hindo then commented on the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, who has affirmed that he wants to change the interventionist policy and improve relations with Russia. “If his intention is to collaborate for the liberation of Syria without sending soldiers, he has our support,” he explains.
The Syro-Catholic leader then described as “a masterstroke” Pope Francis’ decision to create Monsignor Mario Zenari, Nuncio in Syria, a Cardinal.
“I have always asked the Holy See and the Apostolic Nuncio himself – continues Archbishop Hinfo – that a Cardinal come to visit Syria.”
His request, however, remained a dead letter, and it will remain so only until next Saturday, date of the Consistory in which the Pontiff will put the Cardinal’s biretta on Zenari’s head. From that moment the Nuncio in Damascus will be a representative of the highest summit of the Catholic hierarchy – a sign of closeness on the part of the Holy See to the persecuted populations in Syria.[Original Text:Italian] [Working Translation by ZENIT]
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Pope’s Address to Catholic Businesspeople (UNIAPAC) by ZENIT Staff
At 11:45 o’clock this morning, Pope Francis received in audience in the Regia Hall of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the participants in the International Conference of Catholic Businessmen’s Associations (UNIAPAC). Here is a translation of the Pope’s address to those present.
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THE HOLY FATHER’S ADDRESS
Lord Cardinal, Mister President of UNIAPAC, Dear Friends:
You have come to Rome – to the Vatican – in response to an invitation of Cardinal Peter Turkson and of the Authorities of the International Union of Catholic Businessmen, with the noble purpose to reflect on the role of businessmen as agents of economic and social inclusion. I wish to assure you from this moment of my encouragement and my prayer for this endeavor. God’s Providence willed that this meeting of UNIAPAC should coincide with the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. All human activities, including the entrepreneurial, can be an exercise of mercy, which is participation in the love of God for men.
Entrepreneurial activity constantly assumes a multitude of risks. In the parables of the hidden treasure in a field (cf. Matthew 13:44) and of the precious pearl (cf. Matthew 13:45), Jesus compares the obtaining of the Kingdom of Heaven with entrepreneurial risk. I wish to reflect on these three risks with you today: the risk of using money well, the risk of honesty and the risk of fraternity.
In the first place, the risk of the use of money — to speak of businesses puts us immediately in relation with one of the most difficult subjects of moral perception: money. I have said several times that “money is the devil’s manure,” repeating what the Holy Fathers said. Moreover, Leo XIII, who initiated the Social Doctrine of the Church, noted that the history of the 19th century had divided “nations into two classes of citizens, opening an immense abyss between one and the other (Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum, 35). Forty years later, Pius XI foresaw the growth of an “international imperialism of money” (Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno, 109). Forty years after that, Paul VI, referring to Rerum Novarum, lamented that the excessive concentration of means and powers “can lead to a new abusive form of economic dictatorship in the social, cultural and also the political field” (Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, 44).
In the parable of the unjust administrator, Jesus exhorts to make friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations (cf. Luke 16:9-15). All the Fathers of the Church interpreted these words in the sense that riches are good when they are placed at the service of one’s neighbor, otherwise they are iniquitous (cf. Catena Aurea: Gospel according to Saint Luke, 16:8-13). Therefore, money must serve, instead of governing. Money is only a technical instrument of inter-mediation, of comparison of values and rights, of fulfilment of obligations and of savings. As all technology, money does not have a neutral value, but it acquires value according to the end and the circumstances in which it is used. When the neutrality of money is affirmed, one is falling into its power. Businesses should not exist to earn money, although money is useful to measure their functioning. Businesses exist to serve.
Therefore, it is urgent to recover the social meaning of the financial and banking activity, with the best and inventive intelligence of businessmen. This implies taking the risk of complicating one’s life, having to give up certain economic earnings. Credit should be accessible for families’ housing, for small and medium businesses, for farmers, for educational activities, especially at the primary level, for general health, for the improvement and integration of the poorest urban nuclei. A chrematistic logic of the market, makes credit more accessible and cheaper for those who have more means; and more expense and difficult for those who have less, to the point of leaving the poorest fringes of the population in the hands of unscrupulous usurers. Likewise, at the international level, the financing of the poorest countries easily becomes a usurious activity. This is one of the great challenges for the business sector and for economists in general, who are called to obtain a stable and sufficient flow of credit that excludes no one and that can be redeemable in just and accessible conditions.
Even when the possibility is admitted of creating business mechanisms that are accessible to all and function in benefit of all, it must be recognized that there will always be a need for genuine and abundant gratuitousness. There will also be a need for the State’s intervention to protect certain collective goods and ensure the satisfaction of fundamental human needs. My Predecessor, Saint John Paul II, affirmed that to ignore this leads to “‘idolatry’ of the market” (Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 40).
There is a second risk that must be assumed by businessmen – the risk of honesty. Corruption is the worst social plague. It is the lie of seeking personal advantage or of one’s group under the appearances of a service to society. It is the destruction of the social fabric under the appearances of fulfilment of the law. It is the law of the jungle disguised as apparent social rationality. It is the deception and exploitation of the weakest and the least informed. It is the most crass egoism, hidden behind apparent generosity. Corruption is generated by the adoration of money and it returns to the corrupt one, prisoner of that same adoration. Corruption is a fraud of democracy, and it opens the doors to other terrible evils, such as drugs, prostitution and the trafficking of persons, slavery, the sale of organs, the traffic of arms, etc. Corruption is to make oneself a follower of the devil, father of lies.
However, corruption “is not an exclusive vice of politics. There is corruption in politics, there is corruption in businesses, there is corruption in the media, there is corruption in the Churches and there is also corruption in social organizations and in Popular Movements” (Address to the Participants in the International Meeting of Popular Movements, November 5, 2016).
One of the necessary conditions for social progress is the absence of corruption. It can happen that businessmen are tempted to yield to attempts of blackmail or extortion, justifying themselves with the thought of saving the business and its community of workers, or thinking that in this way they will make the business grow and that one day they will be able to be free of that plague. Moreover, it can happen that they fall into the temptation of thinking that it is something that everyone does, and that little acts of corruption geared to obtaining small advantages are not of great importance. Any attempt at corruption, active or passive, is already to begin to adore the god money.
The third risk is that of fraternity. We recalled how Saint John Paul II taught us that “Beyond the logic of exchanges [..] there is “something that is due to man because he is man,” in virtue of his “eminent dignity” (Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 34). Benedict XVI also insisted on the importance of gratuitousness, as an inalienable element of social and economic life. He said: “the charity of truth puts man before the amazing experience of gift, […] which manifests and develops his transcendent dimension. […] Economic, social and political development needs […] to make room for the principle of gratuitousness as expression of fraternity” (Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 34).
Entrepreneurial activity must always include the element of gratuitousness. Relations of justice between directors and workers must be respected and exacted by all parts; however, at the same time, a business is a community of work in which all deserve respect and fraternal appreciation by their superiors, colleagues and subordinates. Respect of the other as brother must be extended also to the local community in which the business is physically located and, in a certain way, all juridical and economic relations of the business must be moderated, enveloped in an environment of respect and fraternity. There is no lack of examples of solidaristic actions in favor of the neediest, carried out by the staff of businesses, clinics, Universities or other communities of work or study. This should be a usual way of acting, fruit of profound convictions on everyone’s part, avoiding its becoming an occasional activity to pacify the conscience or, worse yet, a means to obtain an publicity return.
In regard to fraternity, I cannot fail to share with you the subject of migrations and refugees, which oppresses our hearts. Today, migrations and displacements of a multitude of people in search of protection have become a dramatic human problem. The Holy See and the local Churches are making extraordinary efforts to address the causes of this situation effectively, seeking the pacification of the regions and countries at war and promoting the spirit of hospitality. However, one does not always obtain all that one desires. I ask you, also, for help. On one hand, try to convince governments to give up any sort of warlike activity. As is said in business environments: a “bad” agreement is always better than a “good” fight. Collaborate in creating sources of fitting, stable and abundant work, both in the places of origin as well as in those of arrival and, in these, both for the local population as well as for the immigrants. Immigration must be made to be an important factor of development.
The majority of those of us here belong to immigrant families. Our grandparents and parents arrived from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Lebanon or other countries in South and North America, almost always in conditions of extreme poverty. They were able to raise a family, progress and even become businessmen because they met with welcoming societies, sometimes as poor as they were, but prepared to share the little they had. Maintain and transmit this spirit, which has a Christian root, manifesting here also the entrepreneurial genius.
UNIAPAC and ACDE evoke in me the memory of the Argentine businessman Enrique Shaw, one of its Founders, whose cause of Beatification I was able to promote when I was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. I recommend that you follow his example and, for Catholics, appeal for his intercession to be good businessmen.
The Gospel of two Sundays ago proposed to us the vocation of Zacchaeus (cf. Luke 19:1-10), that rich man, head of the tax collectors of Jericho, who climbed up a tree to be able to see Jesus, and for whom the Lord’s gaze led to his profound conversion. I hope this Conference is like Jericho’s sycamore, a tree that all can climb so that, through a scientific discussion of the aspects of entrepreneurial activity, you find Jesus’ gaze, and from this may effective guidelines result to make the activity of all your businesses promote the common good always and effectively.
I thank you for this visit to the Successor of Peter, and I ask you to take my Blessing to all your employees, workers and collaborators, and to your families. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you very much.[Original text: Spanish] [Translation by ZENIT]
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Cardinal Charles Bo’s Appeal for Peace by Cardinal Charles Bo
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Make Peace the Common Religion of All
Myanmar Citizens
An Appeal to the Political leaders, Military Leaders
and Armed Groups
Date 15 November 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters of this Great Nation,
Greetings to you all.
We, representatives of all religions, living in Myanmar earnestly appeal to our country men and women, our political leaders, our Military leaders and Armed Groups, to seek the path of reconciliation and make peace the common religion of all our people.
Democracy has its dawn. We had 21st Century Panglong with the participation of all groups. We have a vibrant parliament and press. Our country is courted by the world. Millions arrive every year to see this nation as tourists. We had one of the most peaceful and meaningful elections in the world. Daw Su leads the nation with confidence and wisdom. Our dreams are slowly becoming a reality. We deeply appreciate all those worked for this.
But the nightmare of war continues. More than 200,000 are refugees in their own land. Old conflicts are pestering whilst new conflicts are bursting out from many areas. Internal Displacement has its consequences of human trafficking, drug menace and imploding violence in the communities.
Our wars are not winnable. Sixty years have proved that. It has inflicted chronic suffering on thousands. It has deterred human development and provoked greater animosity.
Gen Aung San had the sagacity to involve in dialogue. First Panglong explored the areas of
consensus leave contentious issues for later perusal. Gen Aung San favored a federal solution. Her daughter Daw Sui Kyi could bring diverse actors for dialogue.
We appeal to all of you, political leaders of NLD, military leaders, Armed group leaders, ethnic
political parties and civil society groups to explore a consensual politics of conflict resolution.
We appeal to all religious leaders to be instrument of peace. Myanmar needs only one religion today: that is peace as the common religion. So our pilgrimage to the Panglong Peace has only on appeal : STOP ALL WARS, MAKE PEACE. We are brothers and Sisters. Bring peace with Justice to all.
Signed by: [Text of appeal provided to ZENIT by Cardinal Bo]
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FORUM: ‘Faith and Trust in the Goodness of God: The Mercy of Christian Hope’ by Cardinal Donald Wuerl
Below is a reflection of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, entitled ‘Faith and Trust in the Goodness of God: The Mercy of Christian Hope.’ Published on November 10th, it is from Cardinal Wuerl’s blog:
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Mercy, said Pope Francis in proclaiming this Jubilee Year, is “the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to a hope of being loved forever,” it is “the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope” (Misericordiae Vultus, 2, 10). Noting how many uncertain and painful situations there are today, he wanted this to be a time of special grace both for people to “experience the love of God who consoles, pardons, and instills hope,” and for us to compassionately care for others, including helping them to “escape the doubt that causes them to fall into despair” (Id., 3, 15).
As love in action, mercy is bound to hope and faith. Our faith that the eternal God is ever-merciful and that he watches over and is actively involved in the drama of history – the story of nations as well as our personal lives – gives us hope. In turn, our hope in the Lord, that is, our trust that he alone is sovereign and that his kingship of love and truth will triumph over all, our faith in Christ’s compassion in which he suffers with us in our miseries and hardships and shepherds us through the valley of the shadow of death, this hope is itself already God’s mercy at work in our lives.
Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, offered a beautiful meditation on the love of God. In his second encyclical, Spe Salvi, a deeply theological and spiritual letter, he challenged people to reflect on what Christian hope means for their lives. Jesus offers us a hope, a certainty of the future as a brighter positive reality that is more than merely informative and academic, it has the power to sustain us and reinvigorate lives. “We have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present” even if it is arduous, affirmed this pastor of souls. Thus, simply on the basis of that hope in a sense we are already saved, we already taste of the fruits of divine mercy (1).
“The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life,” said Pope Benedict, offering the example of African Saint Josephine Bakhita, who had been sold into slavery and beaten daily, but was able to persevere because she came to know she was definitively loved by the Lord. In this knowledge, she had a certain hope that was stronger than her sufferings (Spe Salvi, 2-3).
The living hope that we receive from our faith in Jesus, and cannot keep to ourselves, lightens burdens, provides comfort in afflictions of mind and spirit, transforms fear and gives us strength. Giving someone a reason to hope is perhaps one of the greatest mercies because it leads them away from the deadly pit of despair and alienation, from the nihilistic angst of believing that there is no God and that existence is pointless and without meaning. This hope instead mercifully assures them that someone cares, that they are loved, that life is worth it all, that hardship, injustice, deceit and death will not have the last word, but that we have the sure promise of that heavenly kingdom of light, joy and eternal blessed life in the fullest sense (Id., 10-12; see also Deus Caritas Est, 12; Laudato Si’, 65).
Politics, science, technology, economics and material things have contributed a degree of progress in the human condition, but they will not save humanity. They are fleeting and if detached from God, actually only add to darkness and misery. Rather, Pope Benedict attests, humanity is redeemed by love, namely, by the unconditional merciful love of God in Jesus Christ who encompasses the whole of reality (Spe Salvi, 25-27; Deus Caritas Est, 12, 17).
Moreover, God’s love leads us to have merciful concern and love for others. This is hope in action, said the Holy Father, and in fact such compassion is “the true measure of humanity” and an indispensable expression of our very being as Christians (Spe Salvi, 35-39; Deus Caritas Est, 18, 25; Caritas in Veritate, 34).
We experience life differently when we realize that “our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8). Knowing in faith that God sustains us is a spiritual mercy that comforts us in our afflictions. It is a hope that does not disappoint and propels us towards a sure future in the love of God. As Pope Francis has said, “May we never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope” (Evangelii Gaudium, 278).
This is the first in a three-part series discussing the recent popes on mercy.
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On the NET:
To the original post on Cardinal Wuerl’s blog: http://cardinalsblog.adw.org/
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