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November 7, 2019Today "expressions of xenophobia and the selfish search for national interest, inequality between countries and within them grows without finding a remedy" abound. The Pope said this in the meeting with the Jesuits participating in the international conference of the Secretariat for Social Justice and Ecology. Too many "situations of injustice and human pain", starting from trafficking in persons. Furthermore - he added - "we have never mistreated our common home like in the last two centuries".

"We need a cultural revolution to stay close to the last"
To be close to the last, to the victims of the "culture of waste", it is necessary to pay attention to their needs "which arise many times innumerable, difficult to approach as a whole". But this may not be enough: "We need a real cultural revolution", stressed the pontiff. We need "a transformation of our collective vision, of our attitudes, of our ways of perceiving ourselves and putting ourselves in front of the world. Finally, social ills are often embodied in the structures of a society, with a potential for dissolution and death. From here the importance of the work of a slow transformation - indicated Pope Francis - of structures, through participation in public dialogue, in which decisions are made that affect the lives of the latter ".

"Building bridges in a broken world"
Pope Francis then used an image very dear to him, that of bridges to be built to bring distances closer together. In "our broken and divided world" it is necessary "to build bridges in such a way that the human encounter allows each of us to discover in the last the beautiful face of our brother, in which we recognize ourselves, and whose presence, even without words, requires our care and solidarity in his needs ".

"Helping the poor to become aware of their rights"
To help the poor "it is not enough to find solutions but rather to promote their leading role", said the Pope. "We are all witnesses that the humblest, the exploited, the poor and the excluded can and do a lot. poor organize themselves become authentic social poets: job creators, home builders, food producers, especially for those discarded from the world market, "said the pontiff recalling the words he spoke in 2015 in Bolivia. "The social apostolate must solve problems, yes, but above all it must promote processes and encourage hopes. Processes that help people and communities to grow, that lead them to be aware of their rights, to unfold their abilities and to create the own future ", underlined Bergoglio.