VATICAN (CNS): When political life turns its back on the poor, it “will never be able to promote the common good,” and when it ignores the peripheries, it “will never be able to understand the centre and will confuse the future with a self-projection, as if in a mirror,” Pope Francis said in a video message to an international conference themed, A Politics Rooted in the People, inspired by the pope’s book, Let Us Dream, discussing ways people could answer the pope’s call for the Church to embrace “a politics rooted in the people,” with a focus on broad-based grassroots organising and inclusive “popular movements.”
“That is why it is essential that faith communities meet together and fraternise in order to work ‘for and with the people’” and why it is urgent to build the future “from below, from a politics with the people, rooted in the people,” the pope said.
Pope Francis said that the increased poverty and loss of employment that has come with the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic have made the work and witness of the groups attending the conference “all the more urgent and necessary” given that their mission is to “walk with the people in their search for work, wages and housing.”
The pope noted how they have spent many years in “the peripheries,” working with the people and their movements, resulting in some people accusing them of being “too political, others of trying to impose religion.”
He said, “You understand that respect for the people means respect also for their institutions, including their religious ones and that the role of those institutions is not to impose anything but to walk with the people, reminding them of the face of God who always goes before us,” which is why he wished every diocese in the world consistently would collaborate with grassroots or popular movements.
If the Church disowns the poor, she ceases to be the Church of Jesus; she falls back on the old temptation to become a moral or intellectual elite
After all, the pope pointed out, the Church was born “in the margins of the cross” and the Church’s mission is reinvigorated by meeting “the risen, wounded Christ in our poorest communities.”
Pope Francis warned, “If the Church disowns the poor, she ceases to be the Church of Jesus; she falls back on the old temptation to become a moral or intellectual elite,” and the same goes for politics.
Engaging and walking with the excluded avoids “political paternalism,” the pope said.
“When people are cast aside, they are denied not just material well-being but the dignity of acting, of being a protagonist of their own destiny and history, of expressing themselves with their values and culture, their creativity and fruitfulness,” which is why the Church cannot separate its promotion of social justice from recognising the culture, values and spiritual values of the people, he stressed.
“The contempt for the culture of the people is the beginning of the abuse of power,” Pope Francis said, adding that “in recognising the importance of spirituality in the lives of the people, we regenerate politics.”
Faith communities must come together and work “for and with the people,” through dialogue, mutual cooperation, reciprocal understanding and always at the service of the people.
“Now, more than ever, dear friends, we must build a future from below, from a politics with the people, rooted in the people,” he said.
The online event was organised by the United Kingdom-based Centre for Theology & Community, the United States bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development and other Catholic organisations with participants including Catholic and Christian workers, community organisers, academics and clergy.
With the Catholic Campaign for Human Development celebrating its 50th anniversary, the pope also conveyed special greetings in his video message, highlighting group’s work in “helping the poorest communities in the United States to live with greater dignity, promoting their participation in the decisions that affect them.”
