Popular Movements Meet with Pope Francis
On December 12, KAIROS hosted a fascinating discussion with long-time friend and colleague Judith Marshall who has just returned from the three-day World Meeting of Popular Groups at the Vatican. Judith was there with representatives of movements of landless and Indigenous peoples from around the world who are fighting for land, housing, and dignified work.
In his remarks to the meeting, Pope Francis stressed how impoverished and marginalized peoples must not be seen as passive recipients of charity but as active protagonists of their own liberation. He also gave a glimpse into the content and tone of his forthcoming encyclical on ecology and the economy when he said “An economic system centred on the God of money also needs to plunder nature, plunder it in order to sustain frenetic level of consumption intrinsic to it. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity, deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms which we are experiencing. Those who suffer most are you, the humble…”
Judith’s comprehensive report Challenging the Globalization of Indifference: Pope Francis Meets with Social Movements is available at http://links.org.au/node/4172
