The Pope to the authorities: together for the common goods
«The policy is deeply ennobled» when it is animated by the desire to pursue the goods of the citizens», said Benedetto XVI, and therefore it becomes «a higher form of charity»
In a crowded throne hall, on the first floor of the episcopal apartment, today in the afternoon, the Holy Father together with the Pope's entourage and the Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has received Lombard politicians and numerous representives of business, economic and academic world, paying them a short and intense speech inspired to Saint Ambrose. Cardinal Angelo Scola introduced the meeting, stressing how “the varied Milan society is well aware of finding in Christians a humanity available to sincere confrontation, maybe sometimes inconvenient”.
There were the president of the region Lombardy Roberto Formigoni, the president of the province Guido Podestà and the mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia. With them at Bresso airport, there were the presidents of those provinces, whose territory is included in the dioceses of Milan (Varese, Como, Lecco, Bergamo) and the mayors of the neighbouring town halls.
«Wisdom, common sense and authority: these are the virtues of Saint Ambrose, patron of the Archdiocese, that the Pope pointed to politicians along with the ability “to overcome contrasts and to reconcile divisions” .
Justice and love for freedom are the fundamental qualities of authentic politicians, the Pope continued: a freedom that implies the responsability” and that is “not a privilege for someone but a right for everyone, a precious right that the civil power must ensure”.
After the greetings in Dome Square, Pope Ratzinger returned to hope a collaboration between political power and the church, respecting the laicism of the State. He asked the authorities to “ensure freedom in order to express always their vision on community life respecting each other and in the contest of laws that seek the good of all people”.
At the base of the common goods, - reiterated the Pope – the dignity of the humans being can not miss: «the state must serve and protect the people and their well-being in all their aspects», starting from – Benedetto XVI pointed out - «the right of life, which can never be allowed to deliberate suppression», because «no man is owner of another man”. Not only: the Pope turned to recall as “ in particular the law and the work of the state institutions must serve the family (…) based on wedding and open to life”, and on the base of this “the primary right of parents to free education and training of children»: it follows that: “it is not possible to do justice to family if the State does not support the freedom of education”, not for religious reasons but “for the common goods of the entire society”.
As concerns the Church, it offered and continues to offer a precious contribution to society “with its experiance, its teachings, its tradition, its institutions and its works, with which it put itself to people's service”. It is a tradition that keeps on bearing fruit, indeed, “the activity of the Lombard Christians is in these fields very alive and maybe it is more significant than in the past”, as free result of “the totalizing experiance of their faith”. Just the gratuity – word that was repeated in this Seventh World Meeting of families – is what we have “in time of the crisis we are living”, for which the courageous technic-political choises are not enough”.
Before the meeting with the Authorities, Benedetto XVI had held a short but intense face-to-face with Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2002.
Click here for the Pope's speech
Click here for the Archbishop Scola's speech (only in italian)