Pope Francis: A path to a better world

Last Sunday, my whole column was devoted to reviewing the latest book of Pope Francis LET US DREAM: The Path to a Better Future. It was written in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and published only last month. The book is only 149 pages long and is divided into three parts.

Part One is “ A Time To See” where the pope explores what this pandemic crisis can teach us and how to handle upheaval of any kind in our lives and the world at large. Part Two is “A Time To Choose” where he offers a critique of the systems and ideologies that conspired to produce the current crisis or make it worse than it could have been. Part Three is a “A Time To Act” where Francis offers an actionable blueprint for building a better world for all humanity that puts the poor and the planet at the center of this new form of thinking.

Many of the thoughts and principles that the pope mentioned in this book, he has also talked about in his previous encyclicals. For example, just like in his previous encyclicals, he talks a lot about income inequality and the abuses and failures of the market economy.

In this book he offers dozens of observations and insights on his new way of thinking. I have mentioned some of them in my column last Sunday. Here are a few more which I think is worth sharing with my readers.

“The crisis has made visible the throwaway culture. The COVID health measures have exposed, for example, how many of our brothers and sisters do not have housing where social distancing is possible nor clean water to wash.”

He asked questions that we need to ask those in authority: “How does a family in a shanty town observe social distancing to avoid contamination? How do they obey the health regulations without clean water? The crisis exposes these injustices. What will we do about them?”

One of the most poignant paragraphs that Pope Francis wrote was about a photograph he saw:

“I saw a photography exhibition here in Rome. One of the photos was called just that – Indifference.”A lady is leaving a restaurant in winter, well wrapped up against the cold: leather coat, hat, gloves, all the apparel of the well-to-do. At the door of the restaurant a woman is seated on a crate, poorly dressed, shivering in the street, holding out her hand to the lady, who looks elsewhere. That photo touched a lot of people.”

He reminds us that indifference can become normal and become part of our value judgments and lifestyles. We must never get used to indifference.

Pope Francis also spent several pages discussing directives for action developed by the Church. He wrote that “the Church has developed a series of principles for reflection together with the criteria for judgment that also offers directives for action. It is known as Catholic Social Teaching (CST). While they are drawn from reflection on the Gospel, its principles are accessible to all seeking to translate and set in motion the Good News in the here and now.”

Catholic Social Teaching is the body of social principles and moral teaching that is articulated in the papal, conciliar and other official documents issued since the late 19th century dealing with the economic, political and social order. Among the many CST principles, Francis chose to highlight five principles.

The first principle is the preferential option for the poor. It means that we need always to keep in mind how any decision we make might impact the poor and that we need to put the poor at the center of our thinking. The principle of the common good which asks us to have regard for the good of society as a whole.

The next principle is the universal destination of goods which says that God meant the goods of the earth for all and that private property is a right but its use and regulation need to keep in mind this key principle.

The two other CST principles are solidarity and subsidiarity. This acknowledges our duties toward each other which means welcoming strangers, forgiving debts, giving a home to the disabled and allowing other people’s dreams and hopes for a better life to become our own. Subsidiarity ensures that we do not distort the idea of solidarity which involves recognizing and respecting the autonomy of others as subjects of their own destiny. The poor are not the objects of our good intentions but the subjects of change.

The book also reveals Pope Francis’ views on women. He says that in this crisis women have played a leading role. They are in the frontlines because about 70 percent of all those working in healthcare are women. He says: “The countries with women as presidents or prime ministers have on the whole reacted better and more quickly than others, making decisions swiftly and communicating them with empathy.”

Then he talked of women economists: “I am thinking in particular of women economists whose fresh thinking is relevant for this crisis…They advocate an economy that sustains, protects and regenerates, not just regulates and arbitrates.”

There are many more impressive observations in this book. This 149-page book is a must read for all those seeking a path to a better world.

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An invitation for online writing classes: Young writers’ hangout with internationally published romance author Mina Esguerra on Dec. 12 2-3 p.m.

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