VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - N° 188   
   DATE 28-10-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope in the World Meeting of Popular Movements: combat the structural   
   causes of poverty   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    The Pope in the World Meeting of Popular Movements: combat the structural   
   causes of poverty   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) â€" This morning in the Synod Hall the Holy Father   
   met with participants in the World Meeting of Popular Movements (27 to 29   
   October), organised by the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peaceâ€� in   
   collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and with the   
   leaders of various movements.   
    The Pope spoke about the term solidarity, “a word that is not always well   
   acceptedâ€�, that is much maligned and almost “unrepeatableâ€�; however it   
   is a word that indicates much more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It   
   means thinking and acting in terms of community, of prioritising the life of   
   all over and above the appropriation of goods by the few. It also means   
   fighting the structural causes of poverty, inequality, unemployment, lack of   
   land and housing, and the denial of social and labour rights. It means facing   
   the destructive effects of the empire of money: forced displacement, painful   
   migration, human trafficking, drugs, war, violence and all these situations   
   that many of you suffer and that we are all called upon to transform.   
   Solidarity, in its deepest sense, is a way of making history and this is what   
   the popular movements doâ€�.   
    He went on to remark that this meeting does not correspond to any form of   
   ideology and that the movements work not with ideas, but with reality. “It   
   is not possible to tackle poverty by promoting containment strategies to   
   merely reassure, rendering the poor 'domesticated' , harmless and passiveâ€�,   
   he continued. “This meeting corresponds to a more concrete desire, that any   
   father or mother would want for their children: an aspiration that should be   
   within the reach of all but which we sadly see is increasingly unavailable to   
   the majority: land, housing and work. It is strange, but if I talk about this,   
   there are those who think that the Pope is communistâ€�.   
    “Today, the phenomenon of exploitation and oppression assumes a new   
   dimension, a graphical and hard edge of social injustice: those that cannot be   
   integrated, the marginalised, are discarded, “cast-offsâ€�. This is the   
   throwaway culture … This happens when the centre of an economic system is   
   the god of money and not humanity, the human person. At the centre of every   
   social or economic system there must be the person, the image of God, created   
   as the denominator of the universe. When humanity is displaced and supplanted   
   by money, this disruption of values occursâ€�.   
    Pope Francis mentioned the problem of unemployment, and added that “every   
   worker, whether or not he is part of the formal system of paid work, has the   
   right to fair remuneration, social security and a pension. 'Cartoneros', those   
   who live by recycling waste, street vendors, garment makers, craftspeople,   
   fishermen, farmers, builders, miners, workers in companies in receivership,   
   cooperatives and common trades that are excluded from employment rights, who   
   are denied the possibility of forming trades unions, who do not have an   
   adequate or stable income. Today I wish to unite my voice to theirs and to   
   accompany them in their struggleâ€�.   
    He went on the mention the theme of peace and ecology. “We cannot strive   
   for land, housing, or work if we are not able to maintain peace or if we   
   destroy the planet. … Creation is not our property, that we may exploit as   
   we please; far less so, the property of the few. Creation is a gift, a   
   wonderful gift that God gave us, to care for and to use for the benefit of   
   all, always with respect and gratitudeâ€�.   
    “Why, instead of this, are we accustomed to seeing decent work destroyed,   
   the eviction of many families, the expulsion of peasants from the land, war   
   and the abuse of nature? Because this system has removed humanity from the   
   centre and replaced it with something else! Because of the idolatrous worship   
   of money! Because of the globalisation of indifference â€" 'what does it   
   matter to me what happens to others, I'll defend myself'â€�. Because the world   
   has forgotten God, the Father: it has become an orphan because it has turned   
   aside from Godâ€�.   
    He emphasised that “Christians have something very good, a guide to action,   
   a revolutionary programme, we might say. I strongly recommend that you read   
   it, that you read the Beatitudesâ€�.   
    He concluded by highlighting the importance of walking together and remarking   
   that “popular movements express the urgent need to revitalise our   
   democracies, that are so often hijacked by many factors. It is impossible to   
   imagine a future for society without the active participation of the majority,   
   and this role extends beyond the logical procedures of formal democracyâ€�.   
      
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    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) â€" The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Richard   
   Daniel Alarcon Urrutia of Tarma, Peru as metropolitan archbishop of Cuzco   
   (area 23,807, population 1,594,000, Catholics 1,538,000, priests 138,   
   religious 318), Peru.   
      
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