To
the Venerable Brother
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco,
President of the Italian Episcopal Conference
My first thought, in addressing you and the those gathered in
Reggio Calabria on the occasion of the celebration of the 46th
Social Week of Italian Catholics, is of profound gratitude for
the contribution of reflection and encounter that, in the name
of the Church in Italy, you wish to offer the country.
Such a contribution is rendered more precious by the ample
preparatory course that in the last two years has involved
dioceses, ecclesial groups and academic centers: the initiatives
carried out in view of this event evidence the widespread
willingness within Christian communities to recognize themselves
"Catholics in Italy today," cultivating the objective of "an
agenda of hope for the future of the country," as the theme
states of the present Social Week.
All this takes on largely significant importance in the
socio-economic juncture that we are experiencing. At the
national level, the most obvious consequence of the recent
global financial crisis lies in the spread of unemployment and
of precariousness, which often impedes young people --
especially in the areas of the "Mezzogiorno" [southern Italy] --
of living in their own territory, as protagonists of
development. For everyone, therefore, such difficulties
constitute an obstacle on the path to realize their own ideals
of life, favoring the temptation of withdrawal or
disorientation. Mistrust is easily transformed into resignation,
diffidence, disaffection and disengagement, to the detriment of
the legitimate investment in the future.
Well looked at, the problem is not only economic, but above all
cultural, and finds confirmation, in particular, in the
demographic crisis, in the difficulty to appreciate fully the
role of women, in the effort of so many adults in conceiving and
placing themselves as educators. All the more reason why there
is a need to recognize and support forcefully and actively the
irreplaceable social function of the family, heart of affective
and relational life, as well as the place that assures more and
better than all help, care, solidarity, capacity to transmit the
patrimony of values to the new generations. Because of this it
is necessary that all the institutional and social subjects
commit themselves to ensure that the family has effective
measures of support, equipping it with adequate resources and
allowing for a just conciliation with the times of work.
Catholics are not lacking in awareness of the fact that such
expectations must be placed today within the complex and
delicate transformations that concern the whole of humanity. As
I had the opportunity to highlight in the encyclical "Caritas in
Veritate," "The risk for our time is that the de facto
interdependence of people and nations is not matched by ethical
interaction of consciences and minds " (No. 9). This calls for
"a clear vision of all economic, social, cultural and spiritual
aspects" (ibid., No. 31) of development.
To address the present problems, protecting at the same time
human life from conception to its natural end, defending the
dignity of the person, safeguarding the environment and
promoting peace, is not an easy task, but much less so is it
impossible, if one is firm in trusting the capacity of man, if
one stretches the concept of reason and of its use and each one
assumes his own responsibilities. In fact, it would be illusory
to delegate the search for solutions strictly to the public
authorities: political subjects, the world of business, labor
organizations, social operators and all citizens, as individuals
and in an associated way, are called to develop a strong
capacity to analyze, to be farsighted and to participate.
To move according to a perspective of responsibility entails the
willingness to come out of the exclusive search for one's own
interests, to pursue together the good of the country and of the
whole human family. When the Church recalls the horizon of the
common good -- category bearing her social doctrine -- she
intends, in fact, to refer to the "good of all of us," which "It
is a good that is sought not for its own sake, but for the
people who belong to the social community and who can only
really and effectively pursue their good within it" (ibid., No.
7). In other words, the common good is that which builds and
describes the city of men, the fundamental criterion of social
and political life, the end of human action and of progress; it
is a "requirement of justice and charity" (ibid.), promotion of
respect of the rights of individuals and peoples, as well as of
relations characterized by the logic of gift. This finds in the
values of Christianity "not merely useful but essential for
building a good society and for true integral human development"
(ibid., No. 4).
For this reason, I renew the appeal so that a new generation of
Catholics will arise, persons interiorly renewed that commit
themselves to political activity without inferiority complexes.
Such a presence, certainly, is not improvised; it remains,
rather, the objective to which a path should tend of
intellectual and moral formation that, beginning from the great
truths about God, man and the world, offers criteria of judgment
and ethical principles to interpret the good of each and all.
For the Church in Italy, which opportunely assumed the
educational challenge as a priority in the present decade, it is
a question of devoting itself to the formation of mature
Christian consciences, which are alien to egoism, to greed for
goods and to the desire for a career and, instead, are
consistent with the professed faith, acquainted with the
cultural and social dynamics of this time and capable of
assuming public responsibility with professional competence and
a spirit of service. The socio-political endeavor, with the
spiritual resources and the attitudes it requires, remains a
lofty vocation, to which the Church invites to respond with
humility and determination.
The Social Week you are celebrating intends to propose "an
agenda of hope for the future of the country." Undoubtedly, it
is about an innovative method of work, which assumes as its
starting point actual experiences, to recognize and appreciate
the cultural, spiritual and moral potentialities inscribed in
our time, though very complex. One area for further reflection
is the migratory phenomenon and, in particular, the search for
strategies and rules that favor the inclusion of the new
presences. It is significant that, exactly 50 years ago and in
the same city, a Social Week was dedicated entirely to the topic
of migrations, especially to those that now are taking place
inside the country. In our days, the phenomenon has assumed
imposing proportions: having surmounted the emergency phase, in
which the Church spent herself generously for the first
reception, it is necessary to pass to a second phase, which
identifies, in full respect of the law, the terms of
integration.
Believers, as well as all men of good will, are requested to do
everything possible to reveal the situations of injustice,
misery and conflict that oblige so many men to undertake the
path of exodus, promoting at the same time the conditions of
insertion in our lands of all those who intend, with their work
and the patrimony of their traditions, to contribute to the
building of a better society than the one they left. In
recognizing the role of immigrants, we feel called to present
the Gospel to them, proclamation of salvation and of full life
for every man and woman.
However, the hope with which you intend to build the future of
the country is not resolved in the pure legitimate aspiration of
a better future. Born, rather, from the conviction that history
is guided by Divine Providence and tends to a dawn that
transcends the horizons of human action. This "reliable hope"
has the face of Christ: in the Word of God made man each one
finds the courage to witness and abnegation in service. Not
lacking certainly, is the wonderful trail of light that
distinguishes the experience of faith of the Italian people, in
the glorious track of so many men and women saints -- priests,
consecrated persons and laymen -- who were consumed for the good
of brethren and committed themselves in the social field to
promote more just and equitable conditions for all, in the first
place for the poor.
In this perspective, while I wish you profitable days of work
and encounter, I encourage you to feel the loftiness of the
challenge placed before you: the Catholic Church has a legacy of
values that are not things of the past, but constitute a very
living and timely reality, capable of offering a creative
guideline for the future of a nation.
On the eve of the 150th anniversary of National Unity, from
Reggio Calabria might emerge a common feeling, fruit of a
credible interpretation of the situation of the country; a
purposeful wisdom, which is the result of a cultural and ethical
discernment, constitutive condition of political and economic
choices. From this depends the re-launching of civil dynamism,
for the future that will be -- for all -- the sign of the common
good.
To the participants in the 46th Social Week of Italian Catholics
I wish to assure my remembrance in prayer, which I accompany
with a special Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, October 12, 2010
Benedict XVI
[Translation by ZENIT]
