Showing posts with label Pope Francis I. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pope Francis I. Show all posts

Saturday 14 May 2016

Catéchèse a Propos de la Famille (9.2): "Homme et Femme" par François I (translated into French)



Place Saint-Pierre, Mercredi 22 avril 2015

Chers frères et sœurs,
            Dans la précédente catéchèse sur la famille, je me suis arrêté sur le premier récit de la création de l’être humain, dans le premier chapitre de la Genèse, où il est écrit: «Dieu créa l’homme à son image: à l’image de Dieu il le créa; homme et femme il les créa» (1, 27).
            Aujourd’hui, je voudrais compléter la réflexion par le second récit, que nous trouvons au deuxième chapitre. Nous lisons ici que le Seigneur, après avoir créé le ciel et la terre, «modela l'homme avec la glaise du sol, il insuffla dans ses narines une haleine de vie et l'homme devint un être vivant» (2, 7). C’est le sommet de la création. Mais il manque quelque chose: Dieu établit ensuite l’homme dans un très beau jardin afin qu’il le cultive et le garde (cf. 2, 15).
            L’Esprit Saint, qui a inspiré toute la Bible, suggère pour un moment l’image de l’homme seul — il lui manque quelque chose —, sans la femme. Et il suggère la pensée de Dieu, presque le sentiment de Dieu qui le regarde, qui observe Adam seul dans son jardin: il est libre, il est seigneur,... mais il est seul. Et Dieu voit que cela «n’est pas bon»: c’est comme l’absence de communion, il lui manque la communion, un manque de plénitude. «Cela n’est pas bon» — dit Dieu — et il ajoute: «Il faut que je lui fasse une aide qui lui soit assortie» (2, 18).
            Alors Dieu présente à l’homme tous les animaux; l’homme donne à chacun d’eux son nom — et cela est une autre image de la seigneurie de l’homme sur la création —, mais il ne trouve dans aucun animal son semblable. L’homme continue seul. Quand finalement Dieu présente la femme, l’homme reconnaît débordant de joie que cette créature, et seulement elle, fait partie de lui: «c'est l'os de mes os et la chair de ma chair» (2, 23). Il y a enfin un reflet, une réciprocité. Quand une personne — c’est un exemple pour bien comprendre cela — veut donner la main à une autre, elle doit l’avoir face à elle: si quelqu’un tend la main et qu’il n’a personne, la main demeure là..., il lui manque la réciprocité. C’est ainsi qu’était l’homme, il lui manquait quelque chose pour parvenir à sa plénitude, il lui manquait la réciprocité. La femme n’est pas une «réplique» de l’homme; elle provient directement du geste créateur de Dieu. L’image de la «côte» n’exprime pas du tout l’infériorité ou la subordination, mais au contraire que l’homme et la femme sont de la même substance et sont complémentaires et qu’ils ont aussi cette réciprocité. Et le fait que — toujours dans la parabole — Dieu modèle la femme pendant que l’homme dort, souligne précisément le fait qu’elle n’est en aucune façon créature de l’homme, mais bien de Dieu. Cela suggère aussi une autre chose: pour trouver la femme — et nous pouvons dire pour trouver l’amour dans la femme —, l’homme doit d’abord en rêver et ensuite la trouver.
            La confiance de Dieu dans l’homme et dans la femme, auxquels il confie la terre, est généreuse, directe et pleine. Il a confiance en eux. Mais voilà que le malin introduit dans leur esprit la suspicion, l’incrédulité, la méfiance. Et enfin, arrive la désobéissance au commandement qui les protégeait. Ils sombrent dans ce délire de toute-puissance qui pollue tout et détruit l’harmonie. Nous aussi nous le ressentons en nous très souvent, nous tous.
            Le péché engendre la méfiance et la division entre l’homme et la femme. Leur relation sera menacée par mille formes d’abus et d’assujettissement, de séduction trompeuse et de domination humiliante, jusqu’aux plus dramatiques et violentes. L’histoire en porte les traces. Pensons, par exemple, aux excès négatifs des cultures patriarcales. Pensons aux multiples formes de machisme où la femme était considérée comme étant de deuxième classe. Pensons à l’instrumentalisation et à la marchandisation du corps féminin dans la culture médiatique actuelle. Mais pensons également à la récente épidémie de méfiance, de scepticisme, et même d’hostilité qui se diffuse dans notre culture — en particulier à partir d’une méfiance compréhensible des femmes — à l’égard d’une alliance entre l’homme et la femme qui soit capable, à la fois, d’affiner l’intimité de la communion et de conserver la dignité de la différence.
            Si nous n’avons pas un sursaut de sympathie pour cette alliance, capable de mettre les nouvelles générations à l’abri de la méfiance et de l’indifférence, les enfants viendront au monde toujours plus déracinés de celle-ci dès le sein maternel. La dévaluation sociale de l’alliance stable et générative d’un homme et d’une femme est certainement une perte pour tous. Nous devons remettre à l’honneur le mariage et la famille! La Bible dit une belle chose: l’homme trouve la femme, ils se rencontrent et l’homme doit quitter quelque chose pour la trouver pleinement. C’est pourquoi l’homme quittera son père et sa mère pour aller chez elle. Cela est beau! Cela signifie commencer une nouvelle route. L’homme est tout pour la femme et la femme est toute pour l’homme.
            La sauvegarde de cette alliance de l’homme et de la femme, même s’ils sont pécheurs et blessés, confus et incertains, est donc pour nous croyants une vocation exigeante et passionnée, dans la situation actuelle. Le récit même de la création et du péché, dans son final, nous en donne une très belle icône: «Yahvé Dieu fit à l’homme et à sa femme des tuniques de peau et les en vêtit» (Gn 3, 21). C’est une image de tendresse envers ce couple pécheur qui nous laisse sans voix: la tendresse de Dieu pour l’homme et la femme! C’est une image de protection paternelle du couple humain. Dieu lui-même prend soin de son chef-d’œuvre et le protège.
            Je suis heureux de vous accueillir chers amis de langue française, particulièrement les paroisses et les nombreux jeunes venus de France, ainsi que la paroisse francophone de Bucarest. Que Dieu bénisse chacune de vos familles et donne à celles que la vie a brisées la force et le courage dans l’épreuve ! Bon pèlerinage !

Thursday 31 March 2016

Catéchèse a Propos de la Famille (9.1): "Homme et Femme" par François I (translated into French)(translated into French)



Place Saint-Pierre, Mercredi 15 avril 2015



Chers frères et sœurs, bonjour!
            La catéchèse d’aujourd’hui est consacrée à un aspect central du thème de la famille: celui du grand don que Dieu a fait à l’humanité avec la création de l’homme et de la femme et avec le sacrement du mariage. Cette catéchèse et la prochaine concernent la différence et la complémentarité entre l’homme et la femme, qui sont au sommet de la création divine; les deux autres qui suivront ensuite porteront sur d’autres thèmes du mariage.
            Commençons par un bref commentaire au premier récit de la création, dans le Livre de la Genèse. Ici, nous lisons que Dieu, après avoir créé l’univers et tous les êtres vivants, créa le chef d’œuvre, c’est-à-dire l’être humain, qu’il fit à son image: «à l'image de Dieu il le créa, homme et femme il les créa» (Gn 1, 27), ainsi dit le Livre de la Genèse.
            Et comme nous le savons tous, la différence sexuelle est présente sous tant de formes de vie, dans les différentes formes d’espèces vivantes. Mais ce n’est que dans l’homme et la femme qu’elle porte en elle l’image et la ressemblance de Dieu: le texte biblique le répète au moins trois fois dans deux versets (26-27); l’homme et la femme sont à l’image et à la ressemblance de Dieu. Cela nous dit que non seulement l’homme pris en soi est à l’image de Dieu, non seulement la femme prise en soi est l’image de Dieu, mais aussi que l’homme et la femme, comme couple, sont l’image de Dieu. La différence entre l’homme et la femme ne vise pas l’opposition, ou la subordination, mais la communion, l’engendrement, toujours à l’image et ressemblance de Dieu.
            L’expérience nous l’enseigne: pour bien nous connaître et croître harmonieusement, l’être humain a besoin de la réciprocité entre homme et femme. Lorsque cela n’est pas le cas, on en voit les conséquences. Nous sommes faits pour nous écouter et nous aider réciproquement. Nous pouvons dire que sans l’enrichissement réciproque dans cette relation — dans la pensée et dans l’action, dans les attaches familiales et dans le travail, et également dans la foi — tous deux ne peuvent même pas comprendre pleinement ce que signifie être homme et femme.
            La culture moderne et contemporaine a ouvert de nouveaux espaces, de nouvelles libertés et de nouvelles profondeurs pour l’enrichissement de la compréhension de cette différence. Mais elle a introduit également de nombreux doutes et beaucoup de scepticisme. Par exemple, je me demande si ce que l’on appelle la théorie du gender n’est pas également l’expression d’une frustration et d’une résignation, qui vise à effacer la différence sexuelle parce qu’elle ne sait plus s’y confronter. Oui, nous risquons de faire un pas en arrière. L’annulation de la différence, en effet, est le problème, pas la solution. Pour résoudre leurs problèmes de relation, l’homme et la femme doivent au contraire se parler davantage, s’écouter davantage, se connaître davantage, s’aimer davantage. Ils doivent se traiter avec respect et coopérer avec amitié. Avec ces deux bases humaines, soutenues par la grâce de Dieu, il est possible de projeter l’union matrimoniale et familiale pour toute la vie. Le lien matrimonial et familial est une chose sérieuse, il l’est pour tous, pas seulement pour les croyants. Je voudrais exhorter les intellectuels à ne pas déserter ce thème, comme s’il était devenu secondaire pour l’engagement en faveur d’une société plus libre et plus juste.
            Dieu a confié la terre à l’alliance de l’homme et de la femme: son échec rend aride le monde des attaches familiales et obscurcit le ciel de l’espérance. Les signaux sont déjà préoccupants et nous les voyons. Je voudrais indiquer, parmi beaucoup d’autres, deux points qui doivent selon moi nous engager avec plus d’urgence.
            Le premier. Il ne fait aucun doute que nous devons faire beaucoup plus en faveur de la femme, si nous voulons redonner plus de force à la réciprocité entre hommes et femmes. Il est nécessaire, en effet, que la femme non seulement soit plus écoutée, mais que sa voix ait un poids réel, une autorité reconnue, dans la société et dans l’Eglise. La façon même dont Jésus a considéré la femme dans un contexte moins favorable que le nôtre, parce qu’à cette époque, la femme était vraiment placée au second plan, et Jésus l’a considérée d’une façon qui émet une lumière puissante, qui illumine une route qui conduit loin, dont nous avons parcouru uniquement un petit bout. Nous n’avons pas encore compris en profondeur quelles sont les choses que peuvent nous apporter le génie féminin, les choses que la femme peut apporter à la société et à nous aussi: la femme sait voir les choses avec d’autres yeux qui complètent la pensée des hommes. C’est une voie à parcourir avec plus de créativité et d’audace.
            Une deuxième réflexion concerne le thème de l’homme et de la femme créés à l’image de Dieu. Je me demande si la crise de confiance collective en Dieu, qui nous fait tant de mal, qui nous rend malades de résignation face à l’incrédulité et le cynisme, n’est pas liée elle aussi à la crise de l’alliance entre homme et femme. En effet, le récit biblique, avec la grande fresque symbolique sur le paradis terrestre et le péché originel, nous dit précisément que la communion avec Dieu se reflète dans la communion du couple humain et la perte de la confiance dans le Père céleste engendre la division et le conflit entre l’homme et la femme.
            D’où la grande responsabilité de l’Eglise, de tous les croyants, et surtout des familles de croyants, pour redécouvrir la beauté du dessein créateur qui inscrit l’image de Dieu également dans l’alliance entre l’homme et la femme. La terre se remplit d’harmonie et de confiance lorsque l’alliance entre l’homme et la femme est vécue dans le bien. Et si l’homme et la femme la recherchent ensemble entre eux et avec Dieu, ils la trouvent sans aucun doute. Jésus nous encourage de façon explicite au témoignage de cette beauté qui est l’image de Dieu.
            Je salue cordialement les pèlerins venus de Suisse, de Belgique, de Turquie, du Canada et de France, en particulier un groupe de prêtres du diocèse de Fréjus-Toulon avec Monseigneur Dominique Rey et le Séminaire Saint Irénée de Lyon.
            Je souhaite à tous un bon pèlerinage dans la joie du Seigneur ressuscité, vous invitant à entrer dans le mystère de sa miséricorde infinie. Que Dieu vous bénisse.

Friday 19 February 2016

Catechesis About the Family (8.2): "the children" by Pope Francis I (translated into English)



General Audience at Saint Peter's Square on Wednesday, 8 April 2015.


Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning,

In this series of Catecheses on the family, today we are completing our reflection on children, who are the most beautiful gift and blessing that the Creator has given to man and woman. We have already spoken about the great gift that children are. Today sadly we must speak about the “passions” which many of them endure.
From the first moments of their lives, many children are rejected, abandoned, and robbed of their childhood and future. There are those who dare to say, as if to justify themselves, that it was a mistake to bring these children into the world. This is shameful! Let’s not unload our faults onto the children, please! Children are never a “mistake”. Their hunger is not a mistake, nor is their poverty, their vulnerability, their abandonment — so many children abandoned on the streets — and neither is their ignorance or their helplessness... so many children don’t even know what a school is. If anything, these should be reasons to love them all the more, with greater generosity. How can we make such solemn declarations on human rights and the rights of children, if we then punish children for the errors of adults?
            Those who have the task of governing, of educating, but I would say all adults, we are responsible for children and for doing what we can to change this situation. I am referring to “the passion” of children. Every child who is marginalized, abandoned, who lives on the street begging with every kind of trick, without schooling, without medical care, is a cry that rises up to God and denounces the system that we adults have set in place. And unfortunately these children are prey to criminals who exploit them for shameful trafficking or commerce, or train them for war and violence. But even in so-called wealthy countries many children live in dramatic situations that scar them deeply because of crises in the family, educational gaps and at times inhuman living conditions. In every case, their childhood is violated in body and soul. But none of these children are forgotten by the Father who is in heaven! Not one of their tears is lost! Neither is our responsibility lost, the social responsibility of people, of each one of us, and of countries.
            Once Jesus rebuked his disciples because they sent away the children whose parents brought them to Him to be blessed. It is a moving Gospel narrative: “Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’ And he laid his hands on them and went away” (Mt 19:13-15). How beautiful is this trust of the parents and Jesus’ response! How I would like this passage to become the norm for all children! It is true that by the grace of God children in grave difficulty are often given extraordinary parents, ready and willing to make every sacrifice. But these parents should not be left alone! We should accompany them in their toil, and also offer them moments of shared joy and lighthearted cheer, so that they are not left with only routine therapy.
            When it comes to children, no matter what, there should be no utterance of those legal defense-like formulas: “after all, we are not a charity”, or, “in private, everyone is free to do as he or she wishes”, or even, “we’re sorry but we can’t do anything”. These words do not count when it comes to children.
            Too often the effects of a life worn down by precarious and underpaid work, unsustainable hours, bad transport rebound on the children.... Children also pay the price for immature unions and irresponsible separations: they are the first victims; they suffer the outcome of a culture of exaggerated individual rights, and then the children become more precocious. They often absorb the violence they are not able to “ward off” and before the very eyes of adults are forced to grow accustomed to degradation.
            Also in our age, as in the past, the Church sets her motherhood at the service of children and their families. To parents and children of this world of ours, she bears the blessing of God, motherly tenderness, a firm reproach and strong condemnation. Children are no laughing matter!
            Think what a society would be like if it decided, once and for all, to establish this principle: “It’s true, we are not perfect and we make many mistakes. But when it comes to the children who come into the world, no sacrifice on the part of adults is too costly or too great, to ensure that no child believe he or she was a mistake, is worthless or is abandoned to a life of wounds and to the arrogance of men”. How beautiful a society like this would be! I say that for such a society, much could be forgiven, innumerable errors. Truly a great deal.
            The Lord judges our life according to what the angels of children tell him, angels who “always behold the face of the Father who is in heaven” (cf. Mt 18:10). Let us always ask ourselves: what will the children’s guardian angels tell God about us?

Special greetings:
            I offer an affectionate greeting to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Ireland, Sweden, Nigeria, Japan, Thailand, Canada and the United States. May the Risen Lord confirm you in faith and make you witnesses of his love and mercy to all people. May God bless you!
            I send out a special thought to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. May the Easter message continue to make the hearts in our chests burn, like the disciples at Emmaus: dear young people, only the Lord Jesus can respond completely to your hopes for happiness and for the good of your life; dear sick people, there is no more beautiful consolation to your suffering than the certainty of Christ’s Resurrection; and you, dear newlyweds, live out your marriage in concrete adhesion to Christ and to the teachings of the Gospel.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis at the United Nations Office At Nairobi (in English)

Kenya

Thursday, 26 November 2015.



I would like to thank Madame Sahle-Work Zewde, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi, for her kind invitation and words of welcome, as well as Mr Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, and Mr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat. I take this occasion to greet the personnel and all those associated with the institutions who are here present.
            On my way to this hall, I was asked to plant a tree in the park of the United Nations Centre. I was happy to carry out this simple symbolic act, which is so meaningful in many cultures.
            Planting a tree is first and foremost an invitation to continue the battle against phenomena like deforestation and desertification. It reminds us of the importance of safeguarding and responsibly administering those “richly biodiverse lungs of our planet”, which include, on this continent, “the Congo basins”, a place essential “for the entire earth and for the future of humanity”. It also points to the need to appreciate and encourage “the commitment of international agencies and civil society organizations which draw public attention to these issues and offer critical cooperation, employing legitimate means of pressure, to ensure that each government carries out its proper and inalienable responsibility to preserve its country’s environment and natural resources, without capitulating to spurious local or international interests” (Laudato Si’, 38).
           Planting a tree is also an incentive to keep trusting, hoping, and above all working in practice to reverse all those situations of injustice and deterioration which we currently experience.
         In a few days an important meeting on climate change will be held in Paris, where the international community as such will once again confront these issues. It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good and lead to manipulating information in order to protect their own plans and projects.
           In this international context, we are confronted with a choice which cannot be ignored: either to improve or to destroy the environment. Every step we take, whether large or small, individual or collective, in caring for creation opens a sure path for that “generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings” (ibid., 211).
          “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all”; “climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods; it represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day” (ibid., 23 and 25). Our response to this challenge “needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged” (ibid., 93). For “the misuse and destruction of the environment are also accompanied by a relentless process of exclusion” (Address to the United Nations, 25 September 2015).
            COP21 represents an important stage in the process of developing a new energy system which depends on a minimal use of fossil fuels, aims at energy efficiency and makes use of energy sources with little or no carbon content. We are faced with a great political and economic obligation to rethink and correct the dysfunctions and distortions of the current model of development.
           The Paris Agreement can give a clear signal in this direction, provided that, as I stated before the UN General Assembly, we avoid “every temptation to fall into a declarationist nominalism which would assuage our consciences. We need to ensure that our institutions are truly effective” (ibid.). For this reason, I express my hope that COP21 will achieve a global and “transformational” agreement based on the principles of solidarity, justice, equality and participation; an agreement which targets three complex and interdependent goals: lessening the impact of climate change, fighting poverty and ensuring respect for human dignity.
           For all the difficulties involved, there is a growing “conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home” (Laudato Si’, 164). No country “can act independently of a common responsibility. If we truly desire positive change, we have to humbly accept our interdependence” (Address to Popular Movements, 9 July 2015). The problem arises whenever we think of interdependence as a synonym for domination, or the subjection of some to the interests of others, of the powerless to the powerful.
           What is needed is sincere and open dialogue, with responsible cooperation on the part of all: political authorities, the scientific community, the business world and civil society. Positive examples are not lacking; they demonstrate that a genuine cooperation between politics, science and business can achieve significant results.
            At the same time we believe that “human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good and making a new start” (Laudato Si’, 205). This conviction leads us to hope that, whereas the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, “humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities” (ibid., 165). If this is to happen, the economy and politics need to be placed at the service of peoples, with the result that “human beings, in harmony with nature, structure the entire system of production and distribution in such a way that the abilities and needs of each individual find suitable expression in social life”. Far from an idealistic utopia, this is a realistic prospect which makes the human person and human dignity the point of departure and the goal of everything (cf. Address to Popular Movements, 9 July 2015).
         This much-needed change of course cannot take place without a substantial commitment to education and training. Nothing will happen unless political and technical solutions are accompanied by a process of education which proposes new ways of living. A new culture. This calls for an educational process which fosters in boys and girls, women and men, young people and adults, the adoption of a culture of care – care for oneself, care for others, care for the environment – in place of a culture of waste, a “throw-away culture” where people use and discard themselves, others and the environment. By promoting an “awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of the future to be shared with everyone”, we will favour the development of new convictions, attitudes and lifestyles. “A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal” (Laudato Si’, 202). We still have time.
          Many are the faces, the stories and the evident effects on the lives of thousands of persons whom the culture of deterioration and waste has allowed to be sacrificed before the idols of profits and consumption. We need to be alert to one sad sign of the “globalization of indifference”: the fact that we are gradually growing accustomed to the suffering of others, as if it were something normal (cf. Message for World Food Day, 16 October 2013, 2), or even worse, becoming resigned to such extreme and scandalous kinds of “using and discarding” and social exclusion as new forms of slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, prostitution and trafficking in organs. “There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty aggravated by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever” (Laudato Si’, 25). Many lives, many stories, many dreams have been shipwrecked in our day. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of this. We have no right.
         Together with neglect of the environment, we have witnessed for some time now a rapid process of urbanization, which in many cases has unfortunately led to a “disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities which have become unhealthy to live in [and] inefficient” (ibid., 44). There we increasingly see the troubling symptoms of a social breakdown which spawns “increased violence and a rise in new forms of social aggression, drug trafficking, growing drug use by young people, loss of identity” (ibid., 46), a lack of rootedness and social anonymity (cf. ibid., 149).
           Here I would offer a word of encouragement to all those working on the local and international levels to ensure that the process of urbanization becomes an effective means for development and integration. This means working to guarantee for everyone, especially those living in outlying neighbourhoods, the basic rights to dignified living conditions and to land, lodging and labour. There is a need to promote projects of city planning and maintenance of public areas which move in this direction and take into consideration the views of local residents; this will help to eliminate the many instances of inequality and pockets of urban poverty which are not simply economic but also, and above all, social and environmental. The forthcoming Habitat-III Conference, planned for Quito in October 2016, could be a significant occasion for identifying ways of responding to these issues.
        In a few days, Nairobi will host the 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization. In 1967, my predecessor Pope Paul VI, contemplating an increasingly interdependent world and foreseeing the current reality of globalization, reflected on how commercial relationships between States could prove a fundamental element for the development of peoples or, on the other hand, a cause of extreme poverty and exclusion (Populorum Progressio, 56-62). While recognizing that much has been done in this area, it seems that we have yet to attain an international system of commerce which is equitable and completely at the service of the battle against poverty and exclusion. Commercial relationships between States, as an indispensable part of relations between peoples, can do as much to harm the environment as to renew it and preserve it for future generations.
            It is my hope that the deliberations of the forthcoming Nairobi Conference will not be a simple balancing of conflicting interests, but a genuine service to care of our common home and the integral development of persons, especially those in greatest need. I would especially like to echo the concern of all those groups engaged in projects of development and health care – including those religious congregations which serve the poor and those most excluded – with regard to agreements on intellectual property and access to medicines and essential health care. Regional free trade treaties dealing with the protection of intellectual property, particularly in the areas of pharmaceutics and biotechnology, should not only maintain intact the powers already granted to States by multilateral agreements, but should also be a means for ensuring a minimum of health care and access to basic treatment for all. Multilateral discussions, for their part, should allow poorer countries the time, the flexibility and the exceptions needed for them to comply with trade regulations in an orderly and relatively smooth manner. Interdependence and the integration of economies should not bear the least detriment to existing systems of health care and social security; instead, they should promote their creation and good functioning. Certain health issues, like the elimination of malaria and tuberculosis, treatment of so-called orphan diseases, and neglected sectors of tropical medicine, require urgent political attention, above and beyond all other commercial or political interests.
            Africa offers the world a beauty and natural richness which inspire praise of the Creator. This patrimony of Africa and of all mankind is constantly exposed to the risk of destruction caused by human selfishness of every type and by the abuse of situations of poverty and exclusion. In the context of economic relationships between States and between peoples, we cannot be silent about forms of illegal trafficking which arise in situations of poverty and in turn lead to greater poverty and exclusion. Illegal trade in diamonds and precious stones, rare metals or those of great strategic value, wood, biological material and animal products, such as ivory trafficking and the relative killing of elephants, fuels political instability, organized crime and terrorism. This situation too is a cry rising up from humanity and the earth itself, one which needs to be heard by the international community.
             In my recent visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York, I expressed the desire and hope that the work of the United Nations and of all its multilateral activities may be “the pledge of a secure and happy future for future generations. And so it will, if the representatives of the States can set aside partisan and ideological interests, and sincerely strive to serve the common good” (Address to the UN, 25 September 2015).
            Once again I express the support of the Catholic community, and my own, to continue to pray and work that the fruits of regional cooperation, expressed today in the African Union and the many African agreements on commerce, cooperation and development, may be vigorously pursued and always take into account the common good of the sons and daughters of this land.
            May the blessing of the Most High be with each of you and your peoples. Thank you.

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Catechesis About the Family (8.1): "the children" by Pope Francis I (translated into English)



General Audience at Saint Peter's Square on Wednesday, 18 March 2015.


Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning,
           
After reviewing the various members of the family — mother, father, children, siblings, grandparents —, I would like to conclude this first group of catecheses on the family by speaking about children. I will do so in two phases: today I will focus on the great gift that children are for humanity — it is true they are a great gift for humanity, but also really excluded because they are not even allowed to be born — and the next time I shall focus on several wounds that unfortunately harm childhood. Who come to mind are the many children I met during my recent journey to Asia: full of life, of enthusiasm, and, on the other hand, I see that in the world, many of them live in unworthy conditions.... In fact, from the way children are treated society can be judged, not only morally but also sociologically, whether it is a liberal society or a society enslaved by international interests.
            First of all children remind us that we all, in the first years of life, were completely dependent upon the care and benevolence of others. The Son of God was not spared this stage. It is the mystery that we contemplate every year at Christmas. The Nativity Scene is the icon which communicates this reality in the simplest and most direct way. It is curious: God has no difficulty in making Himself understood by children, and children have no difficulty in understanding God. It is not by chance that in the Gospel there are several very beautiful and powerful words of Jesus regarding the “little ones”. This term, “babes”, refers to all the people who depend on the help of others, and to children in particular. For example, Jesus says: “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes” (Mt 11:25). And again: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones: for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 18:10).
            Thus, children are in and of themselves a treasure for humanity and also for the Church, for they constantly evoke that necessary condition for entering the Kingdom of God: that of not considering ourselves self-sufficient, but in need of help, of love, of forgiveness. We all are in need of help, of love and of forgiveness! Children remind us of another beautiful thing: they remind us that we are always sons and daughters. Even if one becomes an adult, or an elderly person, even if one becomes a parent, if one occupies a position of responsibility, underneath all of this is still the identity of a child. We are all sons and daughters. And this always brings us back to the fact that we did not give ourselves life but that we received it. The great gift of life is the first gift that we received. Sometimes in life we risk forgetting about this, as if we were the masters of our existence, and instead we are fundamentally dependent. In reality, it is a motive of great joy to feel at every stage of life, in every situation, in every social condition, that we are and we remain sons and daughters. This is the main message that children give us, by their very presence: simply by their presence they remind us that each and every one of us is a son or daughter.
            But there are so many gifts, so many riches that children bring to humanity. I shall mention only a few.
            They bring their way of seeing reality, with a trusting and pure gaze. A child has spontaneous trust in his father and mother; he has spontaneous trust in God, in Jesus, in Our Lady. At the same time, his interior gaze is pure, not yet tainted by malice, by duplicity, by the “incrustations” of life which harden the heart. We know that children are also marked by original sin, that they are selfish, but they preserve purity, and interior simplicity. But children are not diplomats: they say what they feel, say what they see, directly. And so often they put their parents in difficulty, saying in front of other people: “I don’t like this because it is ugly”. But children say what they see, they are not two-faced, they have not yet learned that science of duplicity that we adults have unfortunately learned.
            Furthermore, children — in their interior simplicity — bring with them the capacity to receive and give tenderness. Tenderness is having a heart “of flesh” and not “of stone”, as the Bible says (cf. Ezek 36:26). Tenderness is also poetry: it is “feeling” things and events, not treating them as mere objects, only to use them, because they are useful....
            Children have the capacity to smile and to cry. Some, when I pick them up to embrace them, smile; others see me dressed in white and think I am a doctor and that I am going to vaccinate them, and they cry... spontaneously! Children are like this: they smile and cry, two things which are often “stifled” in grown-ups, we are no longer capable.... So often our smile becomes a cardboard smile, fixed, a smile that is not natural, even an artificial smile, like a clown. Children smile spontaneously and cry spontaneously. It always depends on the heart, and often our heart is blocked and loses this capacity to smile, to cry. So children can teach us how to smile and cry again. But we must ask ourselves: do I smile spontaneously, frankly, with love or is my smile artificial? Do I still cry or have I lost the capacity to cry? These are two very human questions that children teach us.
            For all these reasons Jesus invited his disciples to “become like children”, because “the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them” (cf. Mt 18:3; Mk 10:14).
            Dear brothers and sisters, children bring life, cheerfulness, hope, also troubles. But such is life. Certainly, they also bring worries and sometimes many problems; but better a society with these worries and these problems, than a sad, grey society because it is without children! When we see that the birth rate of a society is barely one percent, we can say that this society is sad, it is grey because it has no children.

Special greetings
            I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Philippines, Canada and the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord Jesus. God bless you all!
            To all I hope that their visit to the Eternal City may be an occasion to rediscover the faith and to grow in charity.
            I address a special thought to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. Tomorrow we shall be celebrating the Solemnity of St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. Dear young people, look to him as an example of a humble and discrete life; dear sick people, carry the cross with Jesus’ putative father’s attitude of silence and prayer; and you, dear newlyweds, build your family on the same love that bound Joseph to the Virgin Mary.