Meeting in the Vatican with some 150 representatives of businesses and cooperatives of the “Progetto Policoro” sponsored by the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Pope Francis highlights the urgent want for “better politics” in our war-torn occasions.
By Lisa Zengarini
Pope Francis on Saturday praised Italian youths involved in a Church sponsored project aimed at providing help to unemployed and underemployed young people today, saying their commitment contributes to a “better politics” close to people’s requires and as a result to creating peace in the planet.
The Pope was addressing representatives of businesses and cooperatives aspect of the “Progetto Policoro”, a project sponsored by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) to aid young people today integrate in the labour market place by organizing vocational coaching programmes, advertising cooperatives and building intermediaries, such as “community animators”.
War is the failure of politics
Referring to the theme of peace selected by the project for this year, the Pope highlighted that our war-torn occasions make the want for “good politics”, that listens to the people today and fosters peace, even far more urgent nowadays.
“War – he emphasized – is the failure of politics. It tends to make us touch the absurdity of the arms race and its use for solving conflicts.”
“If armaments have been not produced for a year, hunger in the planet could be eliminated.”
Citing the biblical King Ahab of Israel and his wife Jezebel as an instance of the worst politics “which pursues specific interests and utilizes any signifies to satisfy them”, and recalling the words of St. Ambrose, Pope Francis insisted that “A politics that workout routines energy as domination and not as a service is not capable of caring, tramples upon the poor, exploits the Earth and reacts to conflict with war.”
On the other hand – he continued – a good biblical instance we can draw from is Joseph, the son of Jacob: “Joseph, who personally suffered injustice, does not seek his personal interest but that of the people today, pays in individual for the widespread very good, becomes a peacemaker, weaves relationships capable of innovating society”.
Tenderness and fruitfulness in politics
These two biblical examples, mentioned Pope Francis, aid us to greater realize what sort of “spirituality” ought to underpin political activity. He focused on two elements: tenderness and fruitfulness.
Tenderness, he mentioned, “is the like that becomes close” to the least, the weakest, the poorest, when fruitfulness “is produced of sharing, of lengthy-term vision, of dialogues, of trust, of understanding, of listening. It signifies searching to the future and investing in future generations beginning processes rather than occupying spaces”.
“Time is higher than space”
The politician is a servant of the neighborhood
In light of this, Pope Francis, as a result, urged members of the Policoro Project to concentrate not on private or political obtain, but on fostering entrepreneurship, generating dreams flourish via advertising people’s participation which, he mentioned, “is the balm of the wounds of democracy.”
“Your concern ought to not be not electoral help or private achievement, but involving people today, producing entrepreneurship, generating dreams flourish, generating people today really feel the beauty of belonging to a neighborhood. The politician is a servant when the politician is not a servant, he is a negative politician.”
Concluding the Pope encouraged them to continue their perform “always with the aim of serving” the neighborhood.