Pope in Chile: the future depends on ability to listen to the voice of the people

Francis, on arriving in Santiago, meets with the authorities of the country states that "it is not possible to settle for what has already been achieved in the past and stop to enjoy it so that this situation leads us to disavow that many of our brothers still suffer from injustice that they call us all". The request for forgiveness for the "irreparable damage caused to children by ministers of the Church".

Santiago de Chile (AsiaNews) - To listen to the voice of the population, especially its troubled members, such as the unemployed, migrants and indigenous peoples, to build a future in which "everyone, without exception, feels called to build a house, family and nation ". This is the first message that Pope Francis addressed to Chile in his speech to the authorities and to the diplomatic corps accredited here, whom he met at 8.20 (local time) in the Palacio de La Moneda, in Santiago.

The Pope arrived yesterday evening in the Chilean capital and was welcomed by the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet.  There was an immediate unscheduled event when, on the way from the airport he stopped at the church of San Luigi Beltràn de Pudahuel, in a district east of Santiago, to pray on the tomb of Msgr. Enrique Alvear Urrutia, auxiliary bishop of Santiago who died in 1982, and is called "the bishop of the poor".

Today, in the Patio de los Naranjos of the Presidential building, responding to the President's greeting, he first spoke about the "progress of democracy" made by Chile during the last decades. "The recent political elections - he added - were a demonstration of the solidity and civic maturity that you have achieved, which takes on particular significance in this year marking the two-hundredth anniversary of the declaration of independence.  That was a particularly important moment, for it shaped your destiny as a people founded on freedom and law, one that has faced moments of turmoil, at times painful, yet succeeded in surmounting them.  In this way, you have been able to consolidate and confirm the dream of your founding fathers".

At the beginning of a journey that also saw protests at his presence, Francis said that " Each new generation must take up the struggles and attainments of past generations, while setting its own sights even higher.  Goodness, together with love, justice and solidarity, are not achieved once and for all; they have to be realized each day.  It is not possible to settle for what was achieved in the past and complacently enjoy it, as if we could somehow ignore the fact that many of our brothers and sisters still endure situations of injustice that none of us can ignore. Yours is a great and exciting challenge: to continue working to make this democracy, as your forebears dreamed, beyond its formal aspects, a true place of encounter for all.  To make it a place where everyone, without exception, feels called to join in building a house, a family and a nation.  A place, a house and a family called Chile: generous and welcoming, enamoured of her history, committed to social harmony in the present, and looking forward with hope to the future".

A future that, in the words of Francis, "depends in large part on the ability of its people and leaders to listen. The ability to listen proves most important in this nation, whose ethnic, cultural and historical diversity must be preserved from all partisan spirit or attempts at domination, and inspire instead our innate ability to replace narrow ideologies with a healthy concern for the common good (which without being communitarian will never be a good).  It is necessary to listen: to listen to the unemployed, who cannot support the present, much less the future of their families.  To listen to the native peoples, often forgotten, whose rights and culture need to be protected lest that part of this nation’s identity and richness be lost.  To listen to the migrants who knock on the doors of this country in search of a better life, but also with the strength and the hope of helping to build a better future for all.  To listen to young people and their desire for greater opportunities, especially in education, so that they can take active part in building the Chile they dream of, while at the same time shielding them from the scourge of drugs that rob the best part of their lives.  To listen to the elderly with their much-needed wisdom and their particular needs.  We cannot abandon them.  To listen to children who look out on the world with eyes full of amazement and innocence, and expect from us concrete answers for a dignified future.  Here I feel bound to express my pain and shame at the irreparable damage caused to children by some ministers of the Church.  I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask for forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again”.

“With this ability to listen, we are invited – especially today – to give preferential attention to our common home: to foster a culture that can care for the earth, and thus is not content with merely responding to grave ecological and environmental problems as they arise.  This calls for boldly adopting “a distinctive way of looking at things, a way of thinking, policies, an educational programme, a lifestyle and a spirituality which together generate resistance to the assault of the technocratic paradigm”[4] that allows powerful economic interests to prevail over natural ecosystems and, as a result, the common good of our peoples.  The wisdom of the native peoples can contribute greatly to this.  From them we can learn that a people that turns its back on the land, and everything and everyone on it, will never experience real development.  Chile’s possesses a deep-rooted wisdom capable of helping to transcend a merely consumerist view of life and to adopt a sage attitude to the future”.

• Vatican
• Chile
• Pope
• Francis
• listening
• people
• unemployed
• migrants
• indigenous people