None of us can stand by idly …. Christian hope, through Christ’s transforming Grace, impels us to work for the healing of our world and the building of a more just and equitable social order…
Pope Francis gave this reminder during his private General Audience, streamed from inside his Apostolic Library, as he continued his catecheses on healing the world.
Addressing English speakers on the current global pandemic, he lamented that our world’s problems are becoming “ever more evident and indeed more serious.”
“Among these is social inequality,” he said, calling it “the fruit of an unjust global economy that creates boundless wealth for a relative few and greater impoverishment for the rest of our human
family.”
“In God’s plan,” he noted, “the earth was created as a garden, to be cultivated, not brutally exploited.”
As stewards of creation, the Pope said, we are called to ensure that its fruits, which are destined for all, are in fact shared by all. The Church, the Pontiff added, reminds us that the principle of the subordination of private property to the universal destination of goods is the first principle of the whole ethical and social order.
“None of us can stand by idly,” he said, “when millions of people lack access to primary goods, when inequality and lack of opportunity threaten the very fabric of society, and when greed endangers the very environment in which we live.”
“Christian hope, which trusts in the transforming grace of the risen Christ,” he said, “impels us to work for the healing of our world and the building of a more just and equitable social order.
Cordially greeting the English-speaking faithful, he acknowledged that “as the summer draws to a close, I pray that these days of rest will bring peace and serenity to all.”
“Upon you and your families I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he said.
“May God bless you!” he said.
