Law of the Market Is Not Enough, Insists Pope

Insists on a Need for Solidarity

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VATICAN CITY, DEC. 15, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The law of the market and globalization does not guarantee justice, so there must be solidarity to give people precedence over profits, says John Paul II.

The Pope made this point today when he received the letters of credence of Carlos Rafael Conrad Marion-Landaus Castillo, the new ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the Holy See.

“In today’s world, it is not enough to limit oneself to the law of the market and its globalization,” the Holy Father said. “Solidarity must be fomented, avoiding the evils that stem from capitalism, which put profit above the person and make [the latter] the victim of so many injustices.”

“A development model that does not take into account and address these inequalities cannot prosper in any way,” he said.

“Those who always suffer most in the crises are the poor. This is why they must be the special object of the vigilance and attention of the state,” the Pope continued.

“The struggle against poverty must not be reduced simply to improving their conditions of life, but to removing them from this situation creating sources of employment and adopting their cause as one’s own,” he added.

To achieve this, the Pope stressed “the importance of education and formation as elements in the struggle against poverty, as well as respect for fundamental rights, which cannot be sacrificed for the sake of other objectives, as this would strike against the real dignity of the human being.”

In his address, the Pope responded implicitly to those who think that the Church should not speak out on economic or political issues.

“Although in her service to society it is not the Church’s role to propose solutions of a political or technical order, nevertheless she must and wants to point out the motivations and orientations that come from the Gospel to enlighten the search for answers and solutions,” he said.

“At the root of peoples’ social, economic and political ills is usually the rejection or neglect of real ethical, spiritual and transcendental values,” he added. “It is the mission of the Church to recall, defend and consolidate them.”

“In the solution of these problems, it must not be forgotten that the common good is the objective to attain, for which the Church, without claiming competencies that are foreign to her mission, lends her collaboration to the government and to society,” he concluded.

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