of human brotherhood, that of Cain and Abel. I meant to draw attract attention   
   to how from the very beginning this original brotherhood was betrayed. Cain and   
   Abel were brothers. Both came forth from the same womb, they were equal in   
   dignity and created in the image and likeness of God; but their relationship as   
   brothers was destroyed. "It was not only that Cain could not stand Abel? he   
   killed him out of envy." Fratricide was the form of betrayal, and Cain's   
   refusal   
   to acknowledge Abel as his brother became the first rupture in the family   
   relations of fraternity, solidarity and mutual respect.   
    God then intervened to remind man of his responsibility towards his fellows,   
   as   
   He had also done when Adam and Eve, our first parents, ruptured their   
   relationship with him, their Creator. "Then the Lord said to Cain: "Where is   
   Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" But the   
   Lord replied: "What you have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is   
   crying to me from the ground".   
    Cain said he did not know what had happened to his brother, that he was not   
   his   
   brother's keeper. He did not feel responsible for his life, for his fate. He   
   did   
   not feel involved. He was indifferent to his brother, despite their common   
   origin. How sad! What a sorry tale of brothers, of families, of human beings!   
   This was the first display of indifference between brothers. God, however, is   
   not indifferent. Abel's blood had immense value in His eyes, and He asked Cain   
   to give an account of it. At the origin of the human race, God shows Himself to   
   be involved in man's destiny. Later, when the children of Israel were slaves in   
   Egypt, God once more intervened to tell Moses: "I have seen the affliction of   
   my   
   people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters;   
   I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand   
   of   
   the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,   
   a   
   land flowing with milk and honey". We should note the verbs which describe   
   God's   
   intervention: He sees, hears, knows, comes down and delivers. God does not   
   remain indifferent. He is attentive and He acts.   
    In the same way, in Jesus His Son, God has come down among us. He took flesh   
   and showed His solidarity with humanity in all things but sin. Jesus identified   
   with us: He became "the first-born among many brethren". He was not content   
   merely to teach the crowds, but He was concerned for their welfare, especially   
   when He saw them hungry or without work. He was concerned not only for men and   
   women, but also for the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, plants and   
   trees,   
   all things great and small. He saw and embraced all of creation. But He did   
   more   
   than just see; He touched people's lives, He spoke to them, helped them and   
   showed kindness to those in need. Not only this, but He felt strong emotions   
   and   
   He wept. And He worked to put an end to suffering, sorrow, misery and death.   
    Jesus taught us to be merciful like our heavenly Father. In the parable of the   
   Good Samaritan, He condemned those who fail to help others in need, those who   
   "pass by on the other side". By this example, He taught His listeners, and His   
   disciples in particular, to stop and to help alleviate the sufferings of this   
   world and the pain of our brothers and sisters, using whatever means are at   
   hand, beginning with our own time, however busy we may be. Indifference often   
   seeks excuses: observing ritual prescriptions, looking to all the things   
   needing   
   to be done, hiding behind hostilities and prejudices which keep us apart.   
    Mercy is the heart of God. It must also be the heart of the members of the one   
   great family of his children: a heart which beats all the more strongly   
   wherever   
   human dignity - as a reflection of the face of God in his creatures - is in   
   play. Jesus tells us that love for others - foreigners, the sick, prisoners,   
   the   
   homeless, even our enemies - is the yardstick by which God will judge our   
   actions. Our eternal destiny depends on this. It is not surprising that the   
   Apostle Paul tells the Christians of Rome to rejoice with those who rejoice and   
   to weep with those who weep, or that he encourages the Corinthians to take up   
   collections as a sign of solidarity with the suffering members of the Church.   
   And St. John writes: "If any one has the world's goods and sees his brother or   
   sister in need, yet refuses help, how does God's love abide in him?.   
    This then is why "it is absolutely essential for the Church and for the   
   credibility of her message that she herself live and testify to mercy. Her   
   language and her gestures must transmit mercy, so as to touch the hearts of all   
   people and inspire them once more to find the road that leads to the Father.   
   The   
   Church's first truth is the love of Christ. The Church makes herself a servant   
   of this love and mediates it to all people: a love that forgives and expresses   
   itself in the gift of oneself. Consequently, wherever the Church is present,   
   the   
   mercy of the Father must be evident. In our parishes, communities, associations   
   and movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find   
   an   
   oasis of mercy."   
    We too, then, are called to make compassion, love, mercy and solidarity a true   
   way of life, a rule of conduct in our relationships with one another. This   
   requires the conversion of our hearts: the grace of God has to turn our hearts   
   of stone into hearts of flesh, open to others in authentic solidarity. For   
   solidarity is much more than a "feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress   
   at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far". Solidarity is "a firm   
   and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to   
   say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really   
   responsible for all", because compassion flows from fraternity.   
    Understood in this way, solidarity represents the moral and social attitude   
   which best corresponds to an awareness of the scourges of our own day, and to   
   the growing interdependence, especially in a globalised world, between the   
   lives   
   of given individuals and communities and those of other men and women in the   
   rest of the world.   
    Building a culture of solidarity and mercy to overcome indifference   
    6. Solidarity, as a moral virtue and social attitude born of personal   
   conversion, calls for commitment on the part of those responsible for education   
   and formation.   
    I think first of families, which are called to a primary and vital mission of   
   education. Families are the first place where the values of love and   
   fraternity,   
   togetherness and sharing, concern and care for others are lived out and handed   
   on. They are also the privileged milieu for transmitting the faith, beginning   
   with those first simple gestures of devotion which mothers teach their   
   children.   
    Teachers, who have the challenging task of training children and youth in   
   schools or other settings, should be conscious that their responsibility   
   extends   
   also to the moral, spiritual and social aspects of life. The values of freedom,   
   mutual respect and solidarity can be handed on from a tender age. Speaking to   
   educators, Pope Benedict XVI noted that: "Every educational setting can be a   
   place of openness to the transcendent and to others? a place of dialogue,   
   cohesiveness and attentive listening, where young people feel appreciated for   
   their personal abilities and inner riches, and can learn to esteem their   
   brothers and sisters. May young people be taught to savour the joy which comes   
   from the daily exercise of charity and compassion towards others and from   
   taking   
   an active part in the building of a more humane and fraternal society".   
    Communicators also have a responsibility for education and formation,   
   especially nowadays, when the means of information and communication are so   
   widespread. Their duty is first and foremost to serve the truth, and not   
   particular interests. For the media "not only inform but also form the minds of   
   their audiences, and so they can make a significant contribution to the   
   education of young people. It is important never to forget that the connection   
   between education and communication is extremely close: education takes place   
   through communication, which influences, for better or worse, the formation of   
   the person."   
    Communicators should also be mindful that the way in which information is   
   obtained and made public should always be legally and morally admissible.   
    Peace: the fruit of a culture of solidarity, mercy and compassion   
    7. While conscious of the threat posed by a globalisation of indifference, we   
   should also recognise that, in the scenario I have just described, there are   
   also many positive initiatives which testify to the compassion, mercy and   
   solidarity of which we are capable.   
    Here I would offer some examples of praiseworthy commitment, which demonstrate   
   how all of us can overcome indifference in choosing not to close our eyes to   
   our   
   neighbour. These represent good practices on the way to a more humane society.   
    There are many non-governmental and charitable organisations, both within and   
   outside the Church, whose members, amidst epidemics, disasters and armed   
   conflicts, brave difficulties and dangers in caring for the injured and sick,   
   and in burying the dead. I would also mention those individuals and   
   associations   
   which assist migrants who cross deserts and seas in search of a better life.   
   These efforts are spiritual and corporal works of mercy on which we will be   
   judged at the end of our lives.   
    I think also of the journalists and photographers who shape public opinion on   
   difficult situations which trouble our consciences, and all those devoted to   
   the   
   defence of human rights, especially the rights of ethnic and religious   
   minorities, indigenous peoples, women and children, and the most vulnerable of   
   our brothers and sisters. Among them are also many priests and missionaries   
   who,   
   as good pastors, remain at the side of their flock and support them, heedless   
   of   
   danger and hardship, especially during armed conflicts.   
    How many families, amid occupational and social difficulties, make great   
   sacrifices to provide their children with a "counter-cultural" education in the   
   values of solidarity, compassion and fraternity! How many families open their   
   hearts and homes to those in need, such as refugees and migrants! I wish to   
   thank in a particular way all those individuals, families, parishes, religious   
   communities, monasteries and shrines who readily responded to my appeal to   
   welcome a refugee family.   
    Finally, I would mention those young people who join in undertaking works of   
   solidarity, and all those who generously help their neighbours in need in their   
   cities and countries and elsewhere in the world. I thank and encourage everyone   
   engaged in such efforts, which often pass unobserved. Their hunger and thirst   
   for justice will be satisfied, their mercy will lead them to find mercy and, as   
   peacemakers, they will be called children of God.   
    Peace in the sign of the Jubilee of Mercy   
    8. In the spirit of the Jubilee of Mercy, all of us are called to realise how   
   indifference can manifest itself in our lives and to work concretely to improve   
   the world around us, beginning with our families, neighbours and places of   
   employment.   
    Civil society is likewise called to make specific and courageous gestures of   
   concern for their most vulnerable members, such as prisoners, migrants, the   
   unemployed and the infirm.   
    With regard to prisoners, it would appear that in many cases practical   
   measures   
   are urgently needed to improve their living conditions, with particular concern   
   for those detained while awaiting trial. It must be kept in mind that penal   
   sanctions have the aim of rehabilitation, while national laws should consider   
   the possibility of other establishing penalties than incarceration. In this   
   context, I would like once more to appeal to governmental authorities to   
   abolish   
   the death penalty where it is still in force, and to consider the possibility   
   of   
   an amnesty.   
    With regard to migrants, I would ask that legislation on migration be   
   reviewed,   
   so, while respecting reciprocal rights and responsibilities, it can reflect a   
   readiness to welcome migrants and to facilitate their integration. Special   
   concern should be paid to the conditions for legal residency, since having to   
   live clandestinely can lead to criminal behaviour.   
    In this Jubilee Year, I would also appeal to national leaders for concrete   
   gestures in favour of our brothers and sisters who suffer from the lack of   
   labour, land and lodging. I am thinking of the creation of dignified jobs to   
   combat the social plague of unemployment, which affects many families and young   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)