An article by Prof. AG Fidalgo CSsR, published on the blog of the Alfonsiana Academy
A joint text, one of continuity and innovation, a text that is not only social but profoundly theological, Christological, anthropological, and ecclesiological. A text that speaks clearly of a poverty that must be recognized, analyzed, and addressed at all levels: personal, social, structural, and systemic. Each level requires different analytical and operational approaches. As human beings and from a Christian perspective, poverty concerns us as we care for the poor as part of our human family. We listen attentively to their cries and stand in solidarity with them, to address the challenges of sociocultural and economic policies that not only fail to resolve the tragedy of inequity and inequality, but largely increase it, mask it, and continue to present the issue of the poor and poverty as a fatal destiny, primarily responsible for which lies with the attitudes of people who were apparently born poor and prefer to remain so.
True humanism and true Christian commitment will always be against all forms of poverty and will always be for the poor and their liberation and integral advancement. From them and with them, so that the entire human family continues to gain in humanity. It will always be a difficult interpersonal and systemic learning curve to take on the many and varied challenges of poverty while standing alongside its greatest victims. Because, if there are no well-being and integral development for all of society, there will truly be none for anyone; there will only be a scandal of insurmountable breaches against humanity. The Christian community not only cannot be complicit, directly or indirectly, in these situations, but should at all levels effectively declare which side it is on, who it wants to play for, and how it claims to stand, not only with consistently useful and timely declarations, but above all with transformative actions.
No one can afford to live in indifference, much less take refuge in comforting explanations that portray poverty and, even worse, the poor as a “marginal,” “peripheral” reality, part of a necessary mechanism of a supposed development that, whatever the cost, would ultimately benefit everyone; in the meantime, those realities would be merely “collateral effects.” Furthermore, indifference and looking the other way, in order to continue making history, will not only continue to dehumanize us, but this same self-destructive process causes us to lose the richness found amid so much misery and marginalization, as real reserves of true humanity. Values of struggle, of shared life and death, of solidarity woven from the little of each for the sake of more. Values of resistance and resilience to confront so much dehumanizing violence and degradation in and from marginality, demonstrating that even with few “resources,” much can be done to continue walking and improving.
It seems incredible that the Church still needs to strengthen and reaffirm that the “option for the poor” is fundamentally Christian, that it has Christological and ecclesiological foundations, endorsed by the great theological and magisterial Tradition, that it is a choice that pervades the lives of all believers and that no one can ignore, embracing and addressing it in its entirety. But here is this new text from the papal magisterium. Let us hope it is not another text that ends up adding to the pile of so many words that, though full of meaning and values, risk being forgotten. Let us hope it brings a broader and deeper vision of mercy and almsgiving. Let us hope it can continue to contribute to overcoming ideologies that justify the reality of the poor and poverty. We hope that these words, even though they are many, will not be empty but prophetic and wise, to give depth to “the choice for the poor and against poverty,” as the father of Liberation Theology, the great pastor and theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, would say. We pay grateful tribute to him one year after his death (1928-2024). We hope that academic studies and pastoral and ministerial services in the Church will be able to give resonance to this strong appeal to make the Gospel of Jesus in favor of the poor and of a liberating poverty the center of its studies and configurations. We hope that among all these significant exhortations and clarifications, at least these will remain well impressed:
«Sometimes, pseudoscientific criteria are used to claim that the freedom of the market will spontaneously lead to a solution to the problem of poverty. Or, even, a pastoral care of the so-called elite is opted for, maintaining that, rather than wasting time with the poor, it is better to care for the rich, the powerful and the professionals, so that, through them, more effective solutions can be achieved. It is easy to see the worldliness hidden behind these opinions: they lead us to view reality with superficial criteria devoid of any supernatural light, favoring associations that reassure us and seeking privileges that accommodate us» (DT, n. 114).
«Christian love overcomes every barrier, brings together those who are distant, unites strangers, makes enemies familiar, bridges humanly insurmountable chasms, enters the most hidden recesses of society. By its nature, Christian love is prophetic, it works miracles, it has no limits: it is for the impossible. Love is above all a way of conceiving life, a way of living it. Well, a Church that places no limits on love, which knows no enemies to fight, but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today» (DT, n. 120).
