Maravi

Pope's speech in Cuba needs to be taken seriously by all

Pope's speech in Cuba needs to be taken seriously by all
By The Post
Wed 28 Mar. 2012, 13:00 CAT

ON arrival in Cuba on Monday, Pope Benedict VIX observed that many parts of the world today were experiencing a time of particular economic difficulty. The Pope also observed that a few people had regarded the economic crisis as part of a profound spiritual and moral crisis which had left humanity devoid of values and defenceless before the ambition and selflessness of certain powers which took little account of the true good of individuals and families.

Truly, never before has humanity had such formidable scientific and technological potential, such extraordinary capacity to produce riches and wellbeing, but never before have disparity and inequality been so profound in the world.

Technological wonders that have been shrinking the planet in terms of communications and distances co-exist today with the increasing wider gap separating wealth and poverty, development and under-development.

The deep economic crisis the contemporary world is experiencing is exacerbated in the underdeveloped countries as a result of the poor overall development of the productive forces and the malformation of their economic structures.

It is a crisis that directly worsens the dramatic situation peoples in those countries face, heightening the terrible scarcities that shape the quality of life in our poor part of the world.

Hunger, poverty, disease, ignorance, unemployment, lack of opportunity, insecurity, inequality, hopelessness are the terms that would well define the living conditions of a great part of the present population of our planet.

The economic and social injustice implied in the gap between the living conditions of the highest strata in developed societies and the humble and exploited masses the world over, in the underdeveloped world in particular, is an affront to the collective conscience of humankind.

It is an imperative need of our times to be aware of these realities, because of what a situation affecting three quarters of humankind entails in terms of human suffering and the squandering of life and intelligence.

Even though it is not for us to elaborate a very profound analysis of the situation of the world Pope Benedict is talking about, we have never the less been able to perceive the serious injustices which are building around the human world a network of domination, oppression and abuses which stifle freedom and keep the greater part of humanity from sharing in the building up and enjoyment of a more just and more united world.

At the same time, we have noted the inmost stirring moving the world in its depths. These are factors constituting a contribution to the furthering of injustice.

The world in which the Pope and his church live and act is held captive by a tremendous paradox. Never before have the forces working for bringing about a unified world society appeared so powerful and dynamic; they are rooted in the awareness of the full basic equality as well as of the human dignity of all.

Since human beings are members of the same human family, they are indissolubly linked with one another in the one destiny of the whole world, in the responsibility for which they all share.

New technological possibilities are based upon the unity of science, on the global and simultaneous character of communications, and on the birth of an absolutely inter-dependent world.

Moreover, persons are beginning to grasp a new and more radical dimension of unity; for they perceive that their resources, as well as the precious treasures of air and water - without which there cannot be life - and the small delicate biosphere of the whole complex of all life on earth, are not infinity, but on the contrary must be saved and preserved as a unique patrimony belonging to all humankind.

Paradox lies in the fact that within this perspective of unity, the forces of division and antagonism seem to today to be increasing in strength. Ancient divisions between nations and empires, between races and classes, today possess new technological instruments of destruction.

The arms race is a threat to humankind's highest good, which is life; it makes poor peoples and individuals yet more miserable, while making richer those already powerful; it creates a continuous danger of conflagration, and in the case of nuclear arms, it threatens to destroy all life from the face of the earth.

At the same time, new divisions are being born to separate individuals from their neighbours. Unless combated and overcome by social and political action, the influence of the new industrial and technological order favours the concentration of wealth, power and decision making in the hands of a small public or private controlling group.

Economic injustice and lack of social participation keep persons from attaining their basic human and civil rights.

Over the last two decades or so, a hope has spread through the human race that economic growth would bring about such a quantity of goods that it would be possible to feed the hungry at least with the crumbs falling from the table, but this has proved a vain hope in the underdeveloped areas and in pockets of poverty in wealthier areas, because of the rapid growth of population and of the labour force, because of rural stagnation and the lack of agrarian reform, and because of the massive migratory flow to the cities, where the industries, even though endowed with huge sums of money, nevertheless provide so few jobs that not infrequently one worker in four is left unemployed.

These stifling oppressions constantly give rise to a great number of marginal persons, ill-fed, inhumanly housed, illiterate and deprived of political power as well as of the suitable means of acquiring responsibility and moral dignity.

Furthermore, such is the demand for resources and energy by the richer nations, and such are the effects of dumping by them in the atmosphere and the sea that irreparable damage would be done to the essential elements of life on earth, such as air and water, if their high rates of consumption and pollution, which are constantly on the increase, were extended to the whole of humankind.

The strong drive toward global unity, the unequal distribution, which places decisions concerning three quarters of income, investment and trade in the hands of one third of the human race - namely, the more highly developed part -the insufficiency of a merely economic progress, and the new recognition of the material limits of the biosphere - all this makes us aware of the fact that in today's world, new modes of understanding human dignity are arising.

And this is why Pope Benedict is very right when he says that "we can no longer continue in the same cultural and moral direction which has caused the painful situation that many suffer.

On the other hand, real progress calls for an ethics which focuses on the human person and takes account of the most profound human needs, especially man's spiritual and religious dimension.

In the hearts and minds of many, the way is thus opening to an ever greater certainty that the rebirth of society demands upright men and women of firm moral convictions with noble and strong values who will not be manipulated by dubious interests and who are respectful of the unchanging and transcendent nature of the human person".

This is the only way that we can look forward to life and not death on this plant. Clearly, we have no alternative but to struggle, without respite, for a more just, fair and humane world.

We must be ready to wage the most colossal, legitimate, worth and necessary battle for our peoples' lives and future.

Pope Benedict's message on arrival in Cuba needs to be taken very seriously if we have to harbour any hope of survival and progress.

Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH

posted by MrK @ 5:32 PM