Progress arises from the primary value of the person
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50 years after the Encyclical Populorum Progressio
by Angelo Forti
«The Church is not a company. The Pope is not an economist or even a politician, which is why he fully understands what the development of peoples and the integral growth of people mean. The Church is a "mother and teacher" who cares about the harmonious progress of her children.
50 years have passed since Paul VI launched the invitation to the world to invest political, social and economic perspectives on the dignity of the person with his rights and on the need for States to ensure that progress is always at the service of the person and not makes man a slave to the economy.
Bernadette and the “Miracle of Lourdes”
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February 11, 1858
by Mario Sgarbossa
The bishop of Lourdes, presenting Bernadette on 18 January 1862, quotes the Apostle Paul: “What is the instrument that the Almighty used to communicate his plans of mercy? she is the weakest thing in the world, a 14 year old girl, born to a poor family”. Contemptibilia mundi elexit Deus, says Saint Paul: God preferably chooses the people that the world despises... that is, humble people like Bernadette Soubirous who says of herself: “If Our Lady chose me it is because I was the most ignorant. If you had found someone more ignorant you would have chosen her."
The world grows better if solidarity reigns
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Magisterium of Pope Francis
"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2,19:6,3). The apostle Paul uses very strong words to express the mystery of Christian life: everything is summed up in the Paschal dynamism of death and resurrection, received in Baptism. In fact, with immersion in water everyone is as if they were dead and buried with Christ (see Rom 4:XNUMX-XNUMX), while, when he re-emerges from it, he manifests new life in the Holy Spirit. This condition of rebirth involves the entire existence, in every aspect: even illness, suffering and death are inserted in Christ, and find their ultimate meaning in Him. Today, on the Jubilee day dedicated to those who bear the signs of illness and disability, this Word of life finds a particular resonance in our Assembly.
In reality, sooner or later we are all called to confront, sometimes clash with, our own and others' frailties and illnesses. And how many different faces these typically and dramatically human experiences take on! In any case, they raise the question about the meaning of existence in a more acute and pressing way. A cynical attitude can also take over in our soul, as if everything could be solved by suffering or relying only on one's own strength. Other times, on the contrary, we place all our trust in the discoveries of science, thinking that certainly somewhere in the world there is a medicine capable of curing the disease. Unfortunately this is not the case, and even if that medicine existed, it would be accessible to very few people.