The Church of Mercy (11 page)

It is no longer the person who commands, but money, money, cash commands. And God our Father gave us the task of protecting the earth—not for money, but for ourselves, for men and women. We have this task! Nevertheless men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the “culture of waste.” If a computer breaks, it is a tragedy; but poverty, the needs and dramas of so many people, end up being considered normal. If on a winter’s night—here on the Via Ottaviano, for example—someone dies, that is not news. If there are children in so many parts of the world who have nothing to eat, that is not news; it seems normal. It cannot be so! And yet these things enter into normality: that some homeless people should freeze to death on the street—this doesn’t make news. On the contrary, when the stock market drops ten points in some cities, it constitutes a tragedy. Someone who dies is not news, but lowering income by ten points is a tragedy! In this way people are thrown aside as if they were trash.

This “culture of waste” tends to become a common mentality that infects everyone. Human life, the person, is no longer seen as a primary value to be respected and safeguarded, especially if that person is poor or disabled or not yet useful, like the unborn child, or is no longer of any use, like the elderly person. This culture of waste has also made us insensitive to wasting and throwing out excess foodstuffs, which is especially condemnable when, in every part of the world, unfortunately, many individuals and families suffer hunger and malnutrition. There was a time when our grandparents were very careful not to throw away any leftover food. Consumerism has induced us to be accustomed to excess and to the daily waste of food, whose value, which goes far beyond mere financial parameters, we are no longer able to judge correctly. Let us remember well, however, that whenever food is thrown out, it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor, from the hungry! I ask everyone to reflect on the problem of the loss and waste of food, to identify ways and approaches that, by seriously dealing with this problem, convey solidarity and sharing with the underprivileged.

What does having inner freedom mean?

First of all it means being free from personal projects. Free from some of the tangible ways in which, perhaps, you may once have conceived of living your priesthood: from the possibility of planning your future or from the prospect of staying for any length of time in a place of “your own” pastoral action. It means, in a certain way, making yourself free also with regard to the culture and mind-set from which you come. This is not in order to forget it or even less to deny it, but rather to open yourselves in the charity of understanding different cultures and meeting people who belong to worlds far distant from your own.

Above all, inner freedom means being alert to ensure that you keep free of the ambitions or personal aims that can cause the Church great harm. You must be careful not to make either your own fulfillment or the recognition you might receive both inside and outside the ecclesial community a constant priority. Rather, your priority should be the loftier good of the Gospel cause and the accomplishment of the mission that will be entrusted to you. And I think this being free from ambitions or personal goals is important—it is
important
. Careerism is a form of leprosy, a leprosy. No careerism, please. For this reason you must be prepared to integrate all your own views of the Church—however legitimate they may be—and every personal idea or opinion, into the horizon of Peter’s gaze. You must integrate them into his specific mission at the service of the communion and unity of Christ’s flock, of his pastoral charity that embraces the whole world and wishes to be present, partly through the action of the papal representations, especially in those all-too-often forsaken places where the needs of the Church and of humanity are greater.

During my visit to Assisi for St. Francis’s day, the newspapers and media were stirring up fantasies. “The Pope is going to strip the Church there!” “What will he strip from the Church?” “He is going to strip bishops and cardinals of their vestments; then he will divest himself.” This is, indeed, a good occasion to invite the Church to divest herself. But we are all the Church! All of us! Beginning with the newly baptized, we are all Church, and we must all follow the path of Jesus, who himself took the road of renunciation. He became a servant, one who serves; he chose to be humiliated even to the cross. And if we want to be Christians, then there is no other way.

But can’t we make Christianity a little more human, they say, without the cross, without Jesus, without renunciation? In this way we would become like Christians in a pastry shop, saying: what beautiful cakes, what beautiful sweets! Truly beautiful, but not really Christians! Someone could ask, Of what must the Church divest herself? Today she must strip herself of a very grave danger, which threatens every person in the Church, everyone: the danger of worldliness. The Christian cannot coexist with the spirit of the world, with the worldliness that leads us to vanity, to arrogance, to pride. And this is an idol; it is not God. It is an idol! And idolatry is the gravest of sins!

When the media speaks about the Church, they believe the Church is made up of priests, sisters, bishops, cardinals, and the pope. But we are all the Church, as I said. And we all must strip ourselves of this worldliness: the spirit opposing the spirit of the Beatitudes, the spirit opposing the spirit of Jesus. Worldliness hurts us. It is so very sad to find a worldly Christian who is sure—according to him or her—of that security that the faith gives and of the security that the world provides. You cannot be on both sides. The Church—all of us—must strip herself of the worldliness that leads to vanity, to pride, that is idolatry.

Jesus himself told us: “You cannot serve two masters: either you serve God or you serve mammon” (see Matt. 6:24). In mammon itself there is this worldly spirit; money, vanity, pride, that path . . . We cannot take it . . . It is sad to erase with one hand what we write with the other. The Gospel is the Gospel! God is one! And Jesus made himself a servant for our sake, and the spirit of the world has nothing to do with this. Today I am here with you. Many of you have been stripped by this callous world that offers no work, no help. To this world it doesn’t matter that there are children dying of hunger; it doesn’t matter if many families have nothing to eat, do not have the dignity of bringing bread home; it doesn’t matter that many people are forced to flee slavery, hunger, and flee in search of freedom. With how much pain, how often don’t we see that they meet death, as in Lampedusa: today is a day of tears! The spirit of the world causes these things. It is unthinkable that a Christian—a true Christian—be it a priest, a sister, a bishop, a cardinal, or a pope, would want to go down this path of worldliness, which is a homicidal attitude. Spiritual worldliness kills! It kills the soul! It kills the person! It kills the Church!

I would like first of all to tell you something that has to do with St. Ignatius of Loyola, our founder. In the autumn of 1537, on his way to Rome with a group of his first companions, he wondered,
If people ask us who we are, how should we answer?
The answer came spontaneously: We shall say that we are the “Society of Jesus” (
Fontes narrativi Societatis Iesu
, vol. 1, pp. 320–22). This demanding name intends to suggest a relationship of very close friendship and of total affection for Jesus, in whose footsteps they wanted to follow. Why have I told you about this event? Because St. Ignatius and his companions had realized that Jesus was teaching them how to live well, how to live a life that had profound meaning, that imparted enthusiasm, joy, and hope. They had understood that Jesus is a great teacher of life and a model of life, and that he was not only teaching them but also inviting them to follow him on this path.

Dear young people, if I were to ask you now why you go to school, what would you answer me? There would probably be a whole range of replies, according to the sensibility of each person. Yet I think that they could all be summed up together by saying that school is one of the educational environments in which we develop through learning how to live, how to become grown-up, mature men and women who can travel, who can follow the road of life. How does school help you grow? It helps you not only by developing your intelligence but also by an integral formation of all the aspects of your personality.

In following what St. Ignatius teaches us, the main element at school is to learn to be magnanimous. Magnanimity: this virtue of the great and the small (
Non coerceri maximo contineri minimo, divinum est
), which always makes us look at the horizon. What does being magnanimous mean? It means having a great heart, having greatness of mind; it means having great ideals, the wish to do great things in response to what God asks of us. [It means also] to do well the routine . . . daily actions, tasks, meetings with people—doing the little everyday things with a great heart open to God and to others. It is therefore important to cultivate human formation with a view to magnanimity. School not only broadens your intellectual dimension but also your human one. And I think that Jesuit schools take special care to develop human virtues: loyalty, respect, faithfulness, and dedication.

I would like to reflect on two fundamental values: freedom and service. First of all: be free people! What do I mean? Perhaps it is thought that freedom means doing everything one likes, or seeing how far one can go by trying drunkenness and overcoming boredom. This is not freedom. Freedom means being able to think about what we do, being able to assess what is good and what is bad; these are the types of conduct that lead to development; it means always opting for the good. Let us be free for goodness. And in this do not be afraid to go against the tide, even if it is not easy! Being free always to choose goodness is demanding, but it will make you into people with backbone who can face life, people with courage and patience (
parrhesia
and
ypomoné
).

The second word is
service
. In your schools you take part in various activities that accustom you to not retreating into yourselves or into your own small world, but rather to being open to others, especially the poorest and neediest. They accustom you to working hard to improve the world in which we live. Be men and women with others and for others, true champions at the service of others.

In order to be magnanimous with inner freedom and a spirit of service, spiritual formation is necessary. Dear young people, love Jesus Christ more and more! Our life is a response to his call, and you will be happy and will build your life well if you can answer this call. May you feel the Lord’s presence in your life. He is close to each one of you as a companion, as a friend who knows how to help and understand you, who encourages you in difficult times and never abandons you. In prayer, in conversation with him, and in reading the Bible, you will discover that he is truly close. You will also learn to read God’s signs in your life. He always speaks to us, also through the events of our time and our daily life; it is up to us to listen to him.

Especially the humblest people can offer the world a valuable lesson in solidarity. This word
solidarity
is too often forgotten or silenced, because it makes us uncomfortable. It almost seems like a bad word . . .
solidarity
. I would like to make an appeal to those in possession of greater resources, to public authorities and to all people of goodwill who are working for social justice: never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity! No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world! Everybody, according to his or her particular opportunities and responsibilities, should be able to make a personal contribution to putting an end to so many social injustices. The culture of selfishness and individualism that often prevails in our society is not—I repeat,
not
—what builds up and leads to a more habitable world: rather, it is the culture of solidarity that does so. In the culture of solidarity we see others not as rivals or statistics, but as brothers and sisters. And we are all brothers and sisters!

I would like to encourage the efforts that Brazilian society is making to integrate all its members, including those who suffer most and are in greatest need, through the fight against hunger and deprivation. No amount of “peace-building” will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained, in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins, or excludes a part of itself. A society of that kind simply impoverishes itself; it loses something essential. We must never, never allow the throwaway culture to enter our hearts! We must never allow the throwaway culture to enter our hearts, because we are brothers and sisters. No one is disposable! Let us always remember this: only when we are able to share do we become truly rich; everything that is shared is multiplied! Think of the multiplication of the loaves by Jesus! The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need, those who have nothing apart from their poverty!

I would also like to tell you that the Church, the “advocate of justice and defender of the poor in the face of intolerable social and economic inequalities which cry to heaven” (Aparecida Document, para. 395), wishes to offer her support for every initiative that can signify genuine development for every person and for the whole person. Dear friends, it is certainly necessary to give bread to the hungry—this is an act of justice. But there is also a deeper hunger, the hunger for a happiness that only God can satisfy, the hunger for dignity. There is neither real promotion of the common good nor real human development when there is ignorance of the fundamental pillars that govern a nation, its nonmaterial goods:
life
, which is a gift of God, a value always to be protected and promoted; the
family
, the foundation of coexistence and a remedy against social fragmentation;
integral education
, which cannot be reduced to the mere transmission of information for purposes of generating profit;
health
, which must seek the integral well-being of the person, including the spiritual dimension, essential for human balance and healthy coexistence;
security
, in the conviction that violence can be overcome only by changing human hearts.

I would like to add one final point. Here, as in the whole of Brazil, there are many young people. You young people, my dear young friends, you have a particular sensitivity toward injustice, but you are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of people who put their own interests before the common good. To you and to all, I repeat: never yield to discouragement, do not lose trust, do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Situations can change; people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good. Do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it with good. The Church is with you, bringing you the precious good of faith, bringing Jesus Christ, who “came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).