For Pope Francis, private property is “a …

Francisco himself, speaking to social movements in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), on July 9, 2015, declared that “the universal destination of goods is not a rhetorical adornment of the social doctrine of the Church ”but that“ it is a reality prior to private property ”because“ property, in particular when it affects natural resources, must always be based on the needs of the people ”.

Dignity of work and unions

Now ahead of the ILO conference, Pope Bergoglio reiterated with great emphasis the importance of dignity at work, especially in the context generated by the covid-19 pandemic. He denounced the situation of workers who are “on the margins of the world of work (…) low-skilled workers, day laborers, those in the informal sector, migrants and refugees, those who do what is usually called the ‘work of the three dimensions’: dangerous, dirty and degrading “.

He also stressed that the lack of social protection measures against the impact of the pandemic “has caused an increase in poverty, unemployment, underemployment, an increase in the informality of work, a delay in the integration of young people into the labor market. “And, on the other hand,” the increase in child labor (…), vulnerability to human trafficking, food insecurity and greater exposure to infection among populations such as the sick and the elderly ”.

Faced with this, the Pope launched a new call for dialogue between all social actors, guaranteeing a plural and diversified participation and proposed the Catholic Church as a facilitator of these meetings. But at the same time, he demanded that workers’ right to organize be respected. Taking up the words of Pope Pius XI in 1931, he denounces “the asymmetry between workers and businessmen” as a “flagrant injustice” and underlines that “Unions are the expression of the prophetic profile of society.

The economy must change

To generate change, Francisco said: “it lacks a reform of the economic mode, an in-depth reform of the economy“, adding that” the way of managing the economy must be diversified, it must also change. “And he immediately argued that there was no room for” selfish indifference “because” a society cannot progress by shedding itself. Also because “the current pandemic has reminded us that it does There are no differences or borders between those who suffer. ”The Pope went on to say that“ the time has come to eliminate inequalities, to remedy the injustice which undermines the health of the entire human family ”.

In front of the participants in the ILO conference, Pope Francis warned against “the lack of social protection for workers in the informal economy and their families” who are particularly vulnerable because “they cannot rely on protection offered by social insurance or poverty-focused social assistance. regimes ”. He also made particular reference to “women in the informal economy” (street vendors and domestic workers) particularly affected by the health crisis. “The pandemic reminds us – said the Pope – that many women around the world continue to cry out for freedom, justice and equality for all human beings ”.

Francisco declared that “to emerge from the current crisis in better conditions will require the development of a culture of solidarity, in contrast to the culture of disposition which is at the root of inequalities and which afflicts the world”. And for that, he added, “it will be necessary to value the contribution of all these cultures, such as the indigenous, the popular, which are often considered as marginal, but which keep alive the practice of solidarity, which expresses much more than certain “sporadic” acts of generosity. Affirming in turn that “each people has its culture and that it must be assumed as it is” and that we must fight “against the structural causes of poverty, inequalities, lack of work, land and housing, denial of social and labor rights ”. Finally, the Pope saved a sentence he had already included in All the brothers to stress again that we must “face the destructive effects of the empire of money”.