americamagazine.org
2024-09-22
Pope Francis encouraged the leaders of the popular movements to stand up to "the dehumanization" that is spreading in today's world and to fight against injustice wherever it rears its ugly head in a passionate talk on social justice this morning, Sept. 20. "It is often precisely the wealthiest who oppose the realization of social justice or integral ecology out of sheer greed," he said.
The pope traveled from the Vatican to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in the Palazzo San Calisto in Trastevere to give this talk. He was welcomed on arrival by Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., the prefect of the dicastery, and Juan Grabois, the coordinator of the movements, who is a member of the dicastery and a former presidential candidate in Argentina, where he traveled from for the occasion.
Pope Francis' previous three talks to the World Meeting of Popular Movements, and especially his talk at Santa Cruz during his visit to Bolivia, were stirring calls to action and sometimes expressed a development of the church's social teaching. Today's 45-minute talk was no different and is sure to spark discussion.