Commenting on Francis’ trip to Latin America, the Vatican spokesman said: the right perspective in order to work out that what urgently needs to change is attention to the “poor”
“If we acknowledge that the situation in the world is not ideal” and that changes therefore need to be made “then we need to see what the right perspective is that we need to adopt, in order to understand what it is that is not working. This perspective,” as the Pope keeps on driving home, “is an attention for the poor”. The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, said this in a statement to Vatican Radio the day after Francis’ return to Rome following his marathon visit to three Latin American countries, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay.
The Vatican spokesman said he was touched by “people’s presence during the visit” and by the “Pope’s relationship with the people. People are persons: the word “people”, or “crowd” (he used the word “gente” in Italian, Ed.) isn’t particularly nice because it denotes a depersonalised mass. There was an infinite number of persons present at all stages of the trip: I must say that the number of persons along the streets is the thing that struck me the most, as well as the style of their presence, the atmosphere the characteristic intensity, not just in terms of emotions but also of faith.” Pope Francis “was acutely aware of these things, he probably foresaw them and was already familiar with them, much more than us. But I think that the intensity and size of this presence even surprised him to some extent, it surprised everyone a little,” Lombardi said. The director of the Holy See Press Office highlighted “the human and spiritual mobilization of the countries visited, of the peoples of the countries visited and the profound harmony witnessed: the shepherd who knows his sheep, who is among them, who has the odour of sheep. That is exactly what Francis was in these Latin American countries” he visited.
Lombardi emphasised Francis’ “relationship with the people, which gives us, who may come from different cultures and have different experiences, a better explanation of the intense way in which he speaks about it even when he addresses the pastors, telling them that they need to be close to the people, that they must not be strangers to the people. We gained an even stronger understanding and experience of this during this visit.”
The spokesman then analysed the following words Francis pronounced about the South American Church, on the flight from Asunción to Rome: “The Latin American Church is a young church with so many problems. It has problems and this is the message I find here: Do not be afraid of this youth of this freshness in the Church. It may be an undisciplined Church but with time it will become disciplined and it will give us so much strength and energy.” Lombardi said: “We witnessed the Pope’s great respect, esteem and love for these peoples. We did not therefore consider them as people on standby, who require aid, as underdeveloped people and persons who require external charity in order to achieve a better human and spiritual development. We saw them as protagonists of their own development and their path. As such, the Pope’s message was very encouraging from a human, spiritual and ecclesial point of view, in helping them –in a supportive and active – way build their future. So this was a very beautiful thing: a Pope who encourages all members of these populations to be protagonists, particularly those who are perhaps poorer and feel marginalised,” Fr. Lombardi remarked.
Fr. Lombardi also commented on the criticism directed at Francis for focusing too much on popular movements, social entities and the poor, neglecting the middle class: the Pope apparently found this “so interesting that [he] remarked: “That’s a good correction. You are right … I need to think it over a bit”. I think the Pope’s approach is fundamental and must be understood: if we recognise that the situation in the world is not ideal and that therefore there really are changes, important changes in fact, that need to be made – both in terms of the way the economy, the government and humanity’s path works and in terms of the consequences this system has for creation, the balance of creation and social relations – then we need to work out how to look at things from the right perspective in order to see what it is that is not working and needs to be changed. This perspective, as the Pope keeps on driving home, is an attention for the poor.”
The poor are the starting point: “they suffer the consequences when things do not work and it is from them that we can really understand in a profound and existential manner that they are not working and that change is required: it is from them that we need to start and not only because of the evangelical sensitivity that places them at the centre of the Gospel but also because of a human wisdom that tells us what it is we need to change in order to build a fairer humanity. We need to look at it from the perspective of what it is that is not working and of those who suffer the negative consequences.” “as such, the Pope’s insistence is courageous, it goes against the current but it is also totally understandable: because when a person sees things from the central point of a system’s functioning and from the point of view of the person who makes that system work, then it is unlikely there will be any actual change and that this change will be perceived as urgent,” Fr. Lombardi stressed.
Fr. Lombardi admits that the middle class also has a crucial role to play and there may be some countries where it plays an extremely important role. But if you look at the world as a whole, the situations of inequality, of suffering and the problems that require change are so immense and macroscopic that the urgent need for change appears evident.”
The Pope has also insisted on the possibility of “those who find themselves in difficult situations to play an active and creative forefront role as potential active drivers of change: not through violent means but through growing solidarity and justice.” The Pope’s Jesuit spokesman perceives this to be the key message “in the Pope’s speech to the popular movements and to a certain extent the core message of the entire visit and the Pope’s expressions of solidarity with the peoples. This attitude of solidarity is proposed as a driving force for global development too.”
Hence, he concluded, “it seems to me very significant that the Pope’s return to his continent and his sensitivity in terms of participation and the profound and positive understanding of reality and who the people are – both from a general point of view and a specifically Christian point of view – constitutes an extremely important contribution to the reflections of the universal Church and of humanity.”
