教宗抵达玻利维亚：推动公众利益；尊严权利、宗教与家庭
拉巴斯（亚洲新闻）—公众利益，也就是“使团体和每个个人一样能够最圆满、迅速地实现完美的社会生活条件”就需要政治不为金融炒作所主宰；不要仅注重专家治国实用主义和一味追求最大生产力的实用主义，而应该尊重人权、推动文化发展以及宗教的特殊作用。这是教宗方济各抵达玻利维亚后在机场向迎接他的玻利维亚总统拉莫斯和五十多万民众发表的讲话。
教宗抵达拉美之行第二站后指出，玻利维亚“正处在历史时刻：政治、文化和宗教世界是这一合一美好挑战的组成部分”。这个国家可以迎来一个“新的文化合成”、教宗从某种程度上看到了其代表性，因为“剥削、贪婪、各种自私和宗派斗争一度令这片土地的历史昏暗，但今天可以是到了融合的时候了”。尽管这个国家还充斥着对立冲突，就像莫拉里斯总统送给教宗的独特礼物中所见证的——带着锤子和镰刀的十字架（见照片）。
在机场欢迎仪式的讲话中，教宗不仅盛赞这个国家的美丽，更高度评价了为文化融合作出的努力。当莫拉里斯总统亲切地称方济各是“穷人的教宗”时，教宗表示“我非常高兴能够到这个拥有独特美丽风光、天主降福的国家来——山峰、峡谷、亚马孙土地、沙漠和湖泊”。特别是“在这片土地的人们中天主赐予的降福，他们的不同文化和种族构成了巨大的宝贵财富、不断呼吁相互尊重与对话：拥有千年历史的民族和现代历史的民族”。“在这片土地和这个民族中，强烈地奠定了宣讲福音的根基。在漫长的历史中，光照了和睦相处、围民族发展以及推动文化作出了贡献”。
这几天里，“我非常愿意激励你们做基督徒门徒的圣召宣讲福音的喜乐、做地上的盐和世上的光。牧人的声音应该是先知的声音、代表慈母教会向社会讲话。特别强调其兑最弱势的厚爱和福音选择”。接着，教宗还谈到了爱德，“不能信天主大父却无法将每个人视为兄弟姐妹；不能追随耶稣基督却不能为祂为之死在十字架上的人献出生命”。
欢迎仪式后，教宗专程来到了一九八O三月二十一日遇害身亡的耶稣会士埃斯皮纳尔神父遇难地吊唁。此举意义深远，盛赞“我们的兄弟、那些不希望看到他为自由而奋斗的人为了他们的利益屠杀了他。埃斯皮纳尔神父宣讲福音，这福音扰乱了某些人，于是他们便杀了他”。而“他所宣讲的福音给我们带来自由、市我们自由。正如每一名天主儿女一样，耶稣给我们这自由、他宣讲了这福音”。
下午，教宗礼节性拜会了莫拉里斯总统。然后在总主教座堂会晤了民间团体、文化、外交以及志愿人员代表。
教宗向他们发表讲话强调了公众利益，教宗讲话全文如下：
I am certain that you seek what is beautiful, true and good in your service of the common good. May your efforts contribute to the growth of greater respect for the human person, endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development, and social peace, namely, the stability and security provided by a certain order which cannot be achieved without particular concern for distributive justice (cf. Laudato Si’, 157).
“The natural environment is closely related to the social, political and economic environment. It is urgent for all of us to lay the foundations of an integral ecology, one capable of respecting all these human dimensions in resolving the grave social and environmental issues of our time. Otherwise, the glaciers of those mountains will continue to recede, and our sense of gratitude and responsibility with regard to these gifts, our concern for the world we want to leave to future generations, for its meaning and values, will melt just like those glaciers (cf. Laudato Si’ 159-160).
Because everything is related, we need one another. If politics is dominated by financial speculation, or if the economy is ruled solely by a technocratic and utilitarian paradigm concerned with maximum production, we will not grasp, much less resolve, the great problems of humanity. Cultural life has an important role to play in this regard, for it has to do not only with the development of the mind through the sciences and the creation of beauty through the arts, but also esteem for the local traditions of a people, which are so expressive of the milieu in which they arose and to which they give meaning. There is also need for an ethical and moral education which can cultivate solidarity and shared responsibility between individuals. We should acknowledge the specific role of the religions in the development of culture and the benefits which can they can bring to society. Christians in particular, as disciples of the Good News, are bearers of a message of salvation which has the ability to ennoble and to inspire great ideals. In this way it leads to ways of acting which transcend individual interest, readiness to make sacrifices for the sake of others, sobriety and other virtues which develop in us the ability to live as one”.
“It is so easy for us to become accustomed to the atmosphere of inequality all around us, with the result that we take it for granted. Without even being conscious of it, we confuse the “common good” with “prosperity”, especially when we are the ones who enjoy that prosperity. Prosperity understood only in terms of material wealth has a tendency to become selfish, to defend private interests, to be unconcerned about others, and to give free rein to consumerism. Understood in this way, prosperity, instead of helping, breeds conflict and social disintegration; as it becomes more prevalent, it opens the door to the evil of corruption, which brings so much discouragement and damage in its wake. The common good, on the other hand, is much more than the sum of individual interests. It moves from “what is best for me” to “what is best for everyone”. It embraces everything which brings a people together: common purpose, shared values, ideas which help us to look beyond our limited individual horizons.
Different social groups have a responsibility to work for unity and the development of society. Freedom is always the best environment for thinkers, civic associations and the communications media to carry out their activities with passion and creativity in service of the common good. Christians too, are called to be a leaven within society, to bring it their message. The light of Christ’s Gospel is not the property of the Church; the Church is at the service of the Gospel, so that it can reach the ends of the earth. Faith is a light which does not blind or confuse, but one which illuminates and respectfully guides the consciences and history of every person and society. Christianity has played an important role in shaping the identity of the Bolivian people. Religious freedom – a phrase we often encounter in civil discourse – also reminds us that faith cannot be restricted to a purely subjective experience. It also challenges us to help foster the growth of spirituality and Christian commitment in social projects.
Among the various social groups, I would like to mention in particular the family, which is everywhere threatened by domestic violence, alcoholism, sexism, drug addiction, unemployment, urban unrest, the abandonment of the elderly, and children left to the streets. These problems often meet with pseudo-solutions which show the clear effects of an ideological colonization... So many social problems are quietly resolved in the family; the failure to assist families would leave those who are most vulnerable without protection.
A nation which seeks the common good cannot be closed in on itself; societies are strengthened by networks of relationships. The current problem of immigration makes this clear. These days it is essential to improve diplomatic relations between the countries of the region, in order to avoid conflicts between sister peoples and to advance frank and open dialogue about their problems. Instead of raising walls, we need to be building bridges. All these issues, thorny as they may be, can find solutions which are shared, reasonable, equitable and lasting. And in any event, they should never be a cause for aggressiveness, resentment or enmity; these only worsen situations and stand in the way of their resolution”.
“How beautiful are those cities which overcome paralyzing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development! How attractive it is when those cities are full of spaces which connect, relate and favor the recognition of others!” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 210). Bolivia in its process of integration and its search for unity, is called to be an example of such “multifaceted and inviting harmony” (ibid., 117)
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