Pope Francis delivered a historic speech in the United States Congress. Indeed, it was the first pope to do so.
Then the full speech Francisco:
Mr. Vice President,
Mister president,
Distinguished Members of Congress,
Dear friends:
Thank you for the invitation that made me lead them to address this joint session of Congress in "the land of the free and the home of the brave." I would think that they have done because I also am a child of this great continent, which we have all received much and with which we have a common responsibility.
Each child of a country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility.
Of you as Members of Congress, through legislative activity, it is to make this country grow as a nation. You are the face of his people and their representatives. And they are called to defend and safeguard the dignity of their fellow citizens and demanding constant search for the common good, as this is the main policy vigilance.
Political society endures arises whether, as a vocation, meet the common needs encouraging the growth of all its members, especially those who are most vulnerable or at risk. Legislative activity is always based on attention to people. A that they have been invited, called, called by the polls.
It is a task that reminds me of the figure of Moses in a double perspective. On the one hand, the Patriarch and legislator of the People of Israel symbolizes the need for people to maintain unity consciousness through fair legislation. Moreover, the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and, therefore, to the transcendent dignity of the human being. Moses provides a good summary of his work: you are invited to be protected by the law, embodied the image and likeness of God in every human life.
In this perspective, I would today not only to address you, but with you and in you all the people of the United States. Here, together with their representatives, would have the opportunity to dialogue with thousands of men and women who struggle every day to work honestly to bring the bread home, saving little by little-and a better life for his family . Who do not give only to pay their taxes, but with its silent-service claim coexistence. Creating bonds of solidarity through voluntary initiatives, but also through organizations seeking to alleviate the pain of the poor.
I would talk to as many grandparents who cherish the wisdom forged by years and try in many ways, especially through volunteering, sharing their experiences and knowledge. I know many people retire, but not removed; still active in building this country. I would talk to all those young people who are fighting for their noble and high desires, which can not be atomized by the easy deals, they know coping, often result from immaturity of adults. I would like to talk with you and I would do from the memory of his people.
My visit comes at a time when men and women of good will commemorate the anniversary of some famous Americans. Saving the vagaries of history and the human beings own ambiguities, with their many differences and boundaries, these men and women stationed, with work, dedication and even with his own blood, to forge a better future. With his life they expressed fundamental values that live forever in the hearts of all the people. A town with a soul can go through many crossroads, tensions and conflicts, but always manages to find the resources to go ahead and do it with dignity. These men and women bring us a hermeneutics, a way to see and analyze reality. You honor his memory, in the midst of conflict, it helps us to recover, in the today of every day, our cultural reserves.
I merely mention four of these citizens: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.
We are in the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the defense of freedom, which has worked tirelessly so that "this nation, by the grace of God, have a new birth of freedom." Build a future of freedom requires love the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.
We all know and are deeply concerned by the disturbing social and political situation of our time. The world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, Toxic hatred, bloody atrocity, committed even in the name of God and religion. We recognize that no religion is immune to various forms of individual aberration or ideological extremism.
This urges us to be vigilant against any fundamentalism of a religious nature or of whatever kind. Combating violence perpetrated under the name of religion, ideology or an economic system and at the same time protect freedom of religion, of ideas, of people requires a delicate balance in which we must work. And, moreover, you can generate a temptation to which we pay special attention: the simplistic reductionism that divides reality into good and bad; Let me use the expression righteous and sinners.
The contemporary world, with his wounds, bleeding in many of our brothers, calls us to face all polarizations intended to divide into two camps. We know that in the eagerness to free ourselves from the outside enemy we can be tempted to go feeding the enemy within. Copy the hatred and violence of the tyrant and the murderer is the best way to take his place. That's what these people say "No".
Our answer, however, is one of hope and reconciliation, peace and justice. We are asked to have the courage and use our intelligence to solve the geopolitical and economic crises that abound today. Also in the developed world the consequences of structures and unjust actions appear much evidence. Our work focuses on restoring hope, right wrongs, to keep faith with the commitments, thus promoting the recovery of individuals and peoples. Go forward together, in a renewed spirit of brotherhood and solidarity, cooperating enthusiastically to the common good.
The challenge facing us today asks us a renewed spirit of collaboration that has produced so much good throughout the history of the United States. The complexity, severity and urgency of this challenge requires the pooling of resources and talents we possess and strive to support each other, respecting differences and convictions of conscience.
In these lands, the various religious communities have provided a great help to build and strengthen society. It is important today as in the past, the voice of faith, a voice of brotherhood and love, which seeks out the best in each person and each company can continue to be heard. Such cooperation is a powerful tool in the fight to eradicate global new forms of slavery which are the fruit of great injustices that can be overcome only with new political and social consensus.
I appeal here to the political history of the United States, where democracy is rooted in people's minds. All political activity must serve and promote the good of the human person and be based on respect for their dignity. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness "(Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776).
If it is true that politics should serve the human person, it follows that there can not be a slave to the economy and finance. The policy responds to the urgent need to live together to build the common good possible, that of a community that interests resigned to share with justice and peace, their possessions, their interests, their social life. I do not underestimate the difficulty that this entails, but encouragement in this effort.
In this place I want to also remember the march that, fifty years ago, Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery, in the campaign to make the "dream" of full civil and political rights for African Americans. His dream is still ringing in our hearts. I am glad that America remains for many the land of the "dreams". Dreams that mobilize action, participation, commitment. What dreams that arouse deeper and authentic there in the villages.
In recent centuries, millions of people have reached this land chasing the dream of building their own future in freedom. We belong to this continent, we are not afraid of foreigners, because many of us were strangers while. I speak as a child of immigrants, as many of you who are descendants of immigrants. Tragically, the rights of those who lived here long before us were not always respected. These people and their nations, from the heart of American democracy, I reassure my highest esteem and recognition. Those first contacts were quite turbulent and bloody, but it is difficult to judge the past with the criteria of this. However, when the foreign challenges us, we can not commit the sins and errors of the past. We must choose now able to live in the most noble and just world is possible, as we form new generations with an education that can never turn its back on the "neighbors" to everything around us. Building a nation leads us to always think of ourselves in relation to others, leaving the enemy to move logic to the logic of mutual subsidiarity, to the best of us. I hope we will.
Our world is facing a refugee crisis unprecedented since the days of World War II. This represents great challenges and difficult decisions. To which is added, on this continent, the thousands of people who are forced to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones, in a longing for life with more opportunities. Is it not what we want for our children? We must not be intimidated by numbers rather look at people, their faces, hear their stories as we strive to assure our best response to their situation. An answer will always be humane, just and fraternal. Let us beware of a contemporary temptation to discard all that bother. Remember the Golden Rule: "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Mt 7,12).
This rule gives us a very precise action parameter: treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Seek for others the same opportunities we want for ourselves. We accompany the growth of others as we wish to be accompanied. In short: we want security, safety demos; we want life, we give life; we want opportunities, toast opportunities. The parameter that we use for others will be the parameter used time with us. The golden rule reminds us of our responsibility to preserve and defend human life at all stages of their development.
This certainty is what has led me from the beginning of my ministry, working at different levels to apply for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this is the best way, because every life is sacred, every human being is endowed with inalienable dignity and society can only benefit in the rehabilitation of those who have committed crimes. Recently, my brother bishops here in the United States have renewed the call for the abolition of capital punishment. Not only encouragement I join with my support, but encourage and few are convinced that a just and necessary punishment should never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.
In these times when social issues are so important, I can not name the Servant of God Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement. His social activism, his passion for justice and the cause of the oppressed were inspired by the Gospel, in their faith and the example of the saints.
Much progress has been made in this regard, in many parts of the world! Much work is being done in these first years of the third millennium to lift people out of extreme poverty! I know you share my conviction that still needs to do much more and that, in times of crisis and economic difficulty, you can not lose the spirit of international solidarity. At the same time, I want to encourage them to remember how close to us today are prisoners of the poverty trap. Also we offer these people hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly, in their many fronts, especially in the causes that provoke them. I know that much of the American people today, as has happened in the past, is tackling this problem.
It is not necessary to repeat that part of this great work consists of the creation and distribution of wealth. The fair use of natural resources, application of technology solutions and guidance of the entrepreneurial spirit are an indispensable part of an economy that seeks to be modern but especially supportive and sustainable. "The business, which is a noble vocation aimed at producing wealth and a better world for all, can be a very fruitful way to promote the region where you install your endeavors, especially if you believe that creating jobs is inescapable part their service to the common good "(Laudato Yes', 129). And this common good also includes land, central theme of the Encyclical I have recently written to "enter into dialogue with everyone about our common home" (ibid., 3). "We need a conversation that unites us all, because the environmental challenge we live, and human roots, interest us and impact us all" (ibid., 14).
In Laudato If 'breath brave and responsible effort to "redirect the course" (N. 61) and to prevent larger consequences arising from the environmental degradation caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States-and this Congress, are called to play an important role. Now is the time for bold actions and strategies to implement a "culture of caring" (ibid., 231) and a "comprehensive approach to combat poverty, to restore dignity to the excluded and simultaneously to take care of nature" (ibid ., 139).
Human freedom is capable of limiting the art (cf. ibid, 112.); to question "our intelligence to recognize how we should target, cultivate and limit our power" (ibid, 78). to put the technique to the "service of another kind of progress healthier, more humane, more social, more comprehensive" (ibid., 112). I know and trust that their excellent academic and research institutions can make a vital contribution in the coming years.
A century ago, at the start of the Great War "useless slaughter" in the words of Pope Benedict XV, was born another great American, the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains a source of spiritual inspiration and guide for many. In his autobiography he wrote: "Although free by nature and image of God, however, and the picture of the world which he had come, I was also a prisoner of my own violence and selfishness. The world was hell transcript, crowded with men like me who loved him and hated him. They were born to love and yet lived with fear and desperate and facing forward ". Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certainties of his time and opened new horizons for the souls and for the Church; he was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace among peoples and religions.
In such a dialogue perspective, I wish to acknowledge the efforts that have been made in recent months and that help overcome historical differences linked to painful episodes of the past. It is my duty to build bridges and help as much as possible to all men and women can do. When countries have been in conflict resume the path of dialogue, which could have been interrupted for legitimate reasons, new horizons open to all. This has required and requires courage, boldness, which does not mean lack of accountability. A good politician is one who, bearing in mind the interests of all, take the time with an open and pragmatic spirit. A good politician always chooses to generate processes rather than occupying spaces (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 222-223).
Also, being an agent of dialogue and peace means to be truly determined to reduce and ultimately to eliminate the many armed conflicts that afflict our world. And on this we put ourselves a question: why lethal weapons are sold to those who seek to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, we all know, is simply for money; impregnated blood money, and often innocent blood. Facing the shameful silence and complicity, it is our duty to address the problem and end the arms trade.
Three sons and a daughter of this land, four, four dreams: Abraham Lincoln, freedom; Martin Luther King, a freedom that exists in diversity and inclusiveness; Dorothy Day, social justice and the rights of individuals; and Thomas Merton, the capacity for dialogue and openness to God.
Four representatives of the American people.
I finish my visit to your country in Philadelphia, where I will participate in the World Meeting of Families. I wanted this Apostolic Journey around the family was a recurring theme. How important was the family in building this country. And how it is still worthy of our support and encouragement. I can not hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from the inside and from the outside. The fundamental relationships are challenged, as the very foundation of marriage and family. I can only confirm not only the importance, but above all the richness and beauty of family life.
In particular I would draw your attention to those members of the family seem to be the most vulnerable, ie, young people. Many have ahead a future filled with endless possibilities, many others seem confused and meaningless, prisoners in a maze of violence, abuse and despair. Your problems are our problems. We can not avoid them. We must face them together, talk and find solutions beyond simple nominal treatment of the issues. At the risk of simplifying, we can say that there is such a culture that pushes many young people not to start a family because they are deprived of future opportunities. However, that culture gives many others, on the contrary, many opportunities, they are also deterred from starting a family.
A nation is great when defending freedom regarded as Abraham Lincoln; when you build a culture that allows his men "dreaming" with full rights to their brothers and sisters, as we tried to make Martin Luther King; when struggle for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as did Dorothy Day in his ceaseless work; being the result of a faith dialogue and peace is sown, contemplative style of Merton.
I have decided to outline some of the wealth of their cultural heritage, the soul of his people. I would like this spirit continue to take shape and grow, so that young people can inherit and live in a land that has allowed many dreams. God bless America