We need to build a “new social justice starting from the assumption that the Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute and untouchable “ and he has always instead emphasized “the social function”. The Pope says this in a reflection addressed to the judges of America and Africa who deal with social rights. “The right to property is a secondary natural right derived from the right that everyone hasi, born from the universal destiny of created goods “. For the Pope “there is no social justice that can be founded on inequality, which implies the concentration of wealth”.
For the Pope “we are used to passing, ignoring situations until they affect us directly. Unconditional commitment instead takes on the pain of the other without slipping into a culture of indifference”. Addressed to a group of judges from America and Africa gathered in videoconference on the subject of social rights, the Pope stressed that it is necessary “to be a people, without pretending to be an enlightened elite, but a people, which is constant and tireless in work to include and integrate “. “In the Gospel, what God asks of us is to be God’s people, not God’s elite. Because those who follow the path of ‘God’s elite’ end up with the well-known elite clericalism that works for the people , but nothing with the people, without feeling like a people “. The Pope asks to pursue the values of solidarity and equity. “Solidarity in the fight against the structural causes of poverty, inequality, lack of work, land and housing”. “Fighting, in short, against those who deny social and trade union rights. Fighting against that culture that leads to the use of others, to enslave others, and ends up depriving others of dignity”. Doing justice means “giving back”, “not giving our things or those of third parties, but we give back what is theirs. We have lost many times this idea of giving back what belongs to them”, concluded the Pope.
Pope Francis invites the judges to make a “poem” of their sentences. In a video message to the participants in the International Conference of Judges who are members of the Social Rights Committees of Africa and America, the Pope underlined: “The poet needs to contemplate, think, understand the music of reality and capture it in words. You in every decision, in every sentence, you are faced with the happy possibility of making a poem: a poem that heals the wounds of the poor, that integrates the planet, that protects mother earth and all her descendants. A poem that repairs, redeems, nourishes “. “Judge, do not give up this possibility”, is the Pope’s appeal. “Be aware that how much you can help through your righteousness and commitment is very important. And please always remember that when justice is truly just” can contribute to the happiness and dignity of a people. “No sentence can be right, nor can any law be if what they produce is greater inequality, if what they produce is greater loss of rights, humiliation or violence”, concluded Pope Francis.
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