POPE Francis Speech in US
Mr. Vice-President,
Mr. Speaker,
Honorable Members of Congress,
Dear Friends,
I am most grateful for your invitation to address
this Joint Session of Congress in "the land of the
free and the home of the brave". I would like to
think that the reason for this is that I too am a
son of this great continent, from which we have
all received so much and toward which we share
a common responsibility.
Each son or daughter of a given country has a
mission, a personal and social responsibility.
Your own responsibility as members of Congress
is to enable this country, by your legislative
activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of
its people, their representatives. You are called
to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow
citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of
the common good, for this is the chief aim of all
politics. A political society endures when it
seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs
by stimulating the growth of all its members,
especially those in situations of greater
vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always
based on care for the people. To this you have
been invited, called and convened by those who
elected you.
Yours is a work which makes me reflect in two
ways on the figure of Moses. On the one hand,
the patriarch and lawgiver of the people of Israel
symbolizes the need of peoples to keep alive
their sense of unity by means of just legislation.
On the other, the figure of Moses leads us
directly to God and thus to the transcendent
dignity of the human being. Moses provides us
with a good synthesis of your work: you are
asked to protect, by means of the law, the image
and likeness fashioned by God on every human
face.
Today I would like not only to address you, but
through you the entire people of the United
States. Here, together with their representatives,
I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue
with the many thousands of men and women
who strive each day to do an honest day's work,
to bring home their daily bread, to save money
and --one step at a time -- to build a better life
for their families. These are men and women
who are not concerned simply with paying their
taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life
of society. They generate solidarity by their
actions, and they create organizations which
offer a helping hand to those most in need.
I would also like to enter into dialogue with the
many elderly persons who are a storehouse of
wisdom forged by experience, and who seek in
many ways, especially through volunteer work, to
share their stories and their insights. I know that
many of them are retired, but still active; they
keep working to build up this land. I also want to
dialogue with all those young people who are
working to realize their great and noble
aspirations, who are not led astray by facile
proposals, and who face difficult situations, often
as a result of immaturity on the part of many
adults. I wish to dialogue with all of you, and I
would like to do so through the historical
memory of your people.
My visit takes place at a time when men and
women of good will are marking the
anniversaries of several great Americans. The
complexities of history and the reality of human
weakness notwithstanding, these men and
women, for all their many differences and
limitations, were able by hard work and self-
sacrifice -- some at the cost of their lives -- to
build a better future. They shaped fundamental
values which will endure forever in the spirit of
the American people. A people with this spirit
can live through many crises, tensions and
conflicts, while always finding the resources to
move forward, and to do so with dignity. These
men and women offer us a way of seeing and
interpreting reality. In honoring their memory, we
are inspired, even amid conflicts, and in the here
and now of each day, to draw upon our deepest
cultural reserves.
I would like to mention four of these Americans:
Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy
Day and Thomas Merton.
This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of the assassination of President
Abraham Lincoln, the guardian of liberty, who
labored tirelessly that "this nation, under God,
[might] have a new birth of freedom". Building a
future of freedom requires love of the common
good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity
and solidarity.
All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried
by, the disturbing social and political situation of
the world today. Our world is increasingly a
place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal
atrocities, committed even in the name of God
and of religion. We know that no religion is
immune from forms of individual delusion or
ideological extremism. This means that we must
be especially attentive to every type of
fundamentalism, whether religious or of any
other kind. A delicate balance is required to
combat violence perpetrated in the name of a
religion, an ideology or an economic system,
while also safeguarding religious freedom,
intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. But
there is another temptation which we must
especially guard against: the simplistic
reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if
you will, the righteous and sinners. The
contemporary world, with its open wounds which
affect so many of our brothers and sisters,
demands that we confront every form of
polarization which would divide it into these two
camps. We know that in the attempt to be freed
of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed
the enemy within. To imitate the hatred and
violence of tyrants and murderers is the best
way to take their place. That is something which
you, as a people, reject.
Our response must instead be one of hope and
healing, of peace and justice. We are asked to
summon the courage and the intelligence to
resolve today's many geopolitical and economic
crises. Even in the developed world, the effects of
unjust structures and actions are all too
apparent. Our efforts must aim at restoring hope,
righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and
thus promoting the well-being of individuals and
of peoples. We must move forward together, as
one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and
solidarity, cooperating generously for the
common good.
The challenges facing us today call for a renewal
of that spirit of cooperation, which has
accomplished so much good throughout the
history of the United States. The complexity, the
gravity and the urgency of these challenges
demand that we pool our resources and talents,
and resolve to support one another, with respect
for our differences and our convictions of
conscience.
In this land, the various religious denominations
have greatly contributed to building and
strengthening society. It is important that today,
as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be
heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love,
which tries to bring out the best in each person
and in each society. Such cooperation is a
powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new
global forms of slavery, born of grave injustices
which can be overcome only through new
policies and new forms of social consensus.
Here I think of the political history of the United
States, where democracy is deeply rooted in the
mind of the American people. All political activity
must serve and promote the good of the human
person and be based on respect for his or her
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, 4 July 1776). If politics must
truly be at the service of the human person, it
follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy
and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of
our compelling need to live as one, in order to
build as one the greatest common good: that of
a community which sacrifices particular interests
in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods,
its interests, its social life. I do not
underestimate the difficulty that this involves,
but I encourage you in this effort.
Here too I think of the march which Martin
Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty
years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his
"dream" of full civil and political rights for African
Americans. That dream continues to inspire us
all. I am happy that America continues to be, for
many, a land of "dreams". Dreams which lead to
action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams
which awaken what is deepest and truest in the
life of a people.
In recent centuries, millions of people came to
this land to pursue their dream of building a
future in freedom. We, the people of this
continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because
most of us were once foreigners. I say this to
you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so
many of you are also descended from
immigrants. Tragically, the rights of those who
were here long before us were not always
respected. For those peoples and their nations,
from the heart of American democracy, I wish to
reaffirm my highest esteem and appreciation.
Those first contacts were often turbulent and
violent, but it is difficult to judge the past by the
criteria of the present. Nonetheless, when the
stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must
not repeat the sins and the errors of the past.
We must resolve now to live as nobly and as
justly as possible, as we educate new
generations not to turn their back on our
"neighbors" and everything around us. Building a
nation calls us to recognize that we must
constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of
hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal
subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best. I
am confident that we can do this.
Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a
magnitude not seen since the Second World War.
This presents us with great challenges and many
hard decisions. On this continent, too, thousands
of persons are led to travel north in search of a
better life for themselves and for their loved
ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this
not what we want for our own children? We
must not be taken aback by their numbers, but
rather view them as persons, seeing their faces
and listening to their stories, trying to respond
as best we can to their situation. To respond in
a way which is always humane, just and
fraternal. We need to avoid a common
temptation nowadays: to discard whatever
proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden
Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you" (Mt 7:12).
This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us
treat others with the same passion and
compassion with which we want to be treated.
Let us seek for others the same possibilities
which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others
to grow, as we would like to be helped
ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us
give security; if we want life, let us give life; if
we want opportunities, let us provide
opportunities. The yardstick we use for others
will be the yardstick which time will use for us.
The Golden Rule also reminds us of our
responsibility to protect and defend human life at
every stage of its development.
This conviction has led me, from the beginning of
my ministry, to advocate at different levels for
the global abolition of the death penalty. I am
convinced that this way is the best, since every
life is sacred, every human person is endowed
with an inalienable dignity, and society can only
benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted
of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in
the United States renewed their call for the
abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I
support them, but I also offer encouragement to
all those who are convinced that a just and
necessary punishment must never exclude the
dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.
In these times when social concerns are so
important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of
God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic
Worker Movement. Her social activism, her
passion for justice and for the cause of the
oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith,
and the example of the saints.
How much progress has been made in this area
in so many parts of the world! How much has
been done in these first years of the third
millennium to raise people out of extreme
poverty! I know that you share my conviction
that much more still needs to be done, and that
in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit
of global solidarity must not be lost. At the same
time I would encourage you to keep in mind all
those people around us who are trapped in a
cycle of poverty. They too need to be given
hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must
be fought constantly and on many fronts,
especially in its causes. I know that many
Americans today, as in the past, are working to
deal with this problem.
It goes without saying that part of this great
effort is the creation and distribution of wealth.
The right use of natural resources, the proper
application of technology and the harnessing of
the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of
an economy which seeks to be modern, inclusive
and sustainable. "Business is a noble vocation,
directed to producing wealth and improving the
world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for
the area in which it operates, especially if it sees
the creation of jobs as an essential part of its
service to the common good" (Laudato Si', 129).
This common good also includes the earth, a
central theme of the encyclical which I recently
wrote in order to "enter into dialogue with all
people about our common home" (ibid., 3). "We
need a conversation which includes everyone,
since the environmental challenge we are
undergoing, and its human roots, concern and
affect us all" (ibid., 14).
In Laudato Si', I call for a courageous and
responsible effort to "redirect our steps" (ibid.,
61), and to avert the most serious effects of the
environmental deterioration 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 -- have an
important role to play. Now is the time for
courageous actions and strategies, aimed at
implementing a "culture of care" (ibid., 231) and
"an integrated approach to combating poverty,
restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the
same time protecting nature" (ibid., 139). "We
have the freedom needed to limit and direct
technology" (ibid., 112); "to devise intelligent
ways of... developing and limiting our
power" (ibid., 78); and to put technology "at the
service of another type of progress, one which is
healthier, more human, more social, more
integral" (ibid., 112). In this regard, I am
confident that America's outstanding academic
and research institutions can make a vital
contribution in the years ahead.
A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War,
which Pope Benedict XV termed a "pointless
slaughter", another notable American was born:
the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains
a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for
many people. In his autobiography he wrote: "I
came into the world. Free by nature, in the image
of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my
own violence and my own selfishness, in the
image of the world into which I was born. That
world was the picture of Hell, full of men like
myself, loving God, and yet hating him; born to
love him, living instead in fear of hopeless self-
contradictory hungers". Merton was above all a
man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the
certitudes of his time and opened new horizons
for souls and for the Church. He was also a man
of dialogue, a promoter of peace between
peoples and religions.
From this perspective of dialogue, I would like to
recognize the efforts made in recent months to
help overcome historic differences linked to
painful episodes of the past. It is my duty to
build bridges and to help all men and women, in
any way possible, to do the same. When
countries which have been at odds resume the
path of dialogue -- a dialogue which may have
been interrupted for the most legitimate of
reasons -- new opportunities open up for all.
This has required, and requires, courage and
daring, which is not the same as irresponsibility.
A good political leader is one who, with the
interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a
spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good
political leader always opts to initiate processes
rather than possessing spaces (cf. Evangelii
Gaudium, 222-223).
Being at the service of dialogue and peace also
means being truly determined to minimize and, in
the long term, to end the many armed conflicts
throughout our world. Here we have to ask
ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to
those who plan to inflict untold suffering on
individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as
we all know, is simply for money: money that is
drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the
face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is
our duty to confront the problem and to stop the
arms trade.
Three sons and a daughter of this land, four
individuals and four dreams: Lincoln, liberty;
Martin Luther King, liberty in plurality and non-
exclusion; Dorothy Day, social justice and the
rights of persons; and Thomas Merton, the
capacity for dialogue and openness to God.
Four representatives of the American people.
I will end my visit to your country in Philadelphia,
where I will take part in the World Meeting of
Families. It is my wish that throughout my visit
the family should be a recurrent theme. How
essential the family has been to the building of
this country! And how worthy it remains of our
support and encouragement! Yet I cannot hide
my concern for the family, which is threatened,
perhaps as never before, from within and
without. Fundamental relationships are being
called into question, as is the very basis of
marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the
importance and, above all, the richness and the
beauty of family life.
In particular, I would like to call attention to
those family members who are the most
vulnerable, the young. For many of them, a
future filled with countless possibilities beckons,
yet so many others seem disoriented and
aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence,
abuse and despair. Their problems are our
problems. We cannot avoid them. We need to
face them together, to talk about them and to
seek effective solutions rather than getting
bogged down in discussions. At the risk of
oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a
culture which pressures young people not to
start a family, because they lack possibilities for
the future. Yet this same culture presents others
with so many options that they too are
dissuaded from starting a family.
A nation can be considered great when it defends
liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture
which enables people to "dream" of full rights for
all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther
King sought to do; when it strives for justice and
the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did
by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which
becomes dialogue and sows peace in the
contemplative style of Thomas Merton.
In these remarks I have sought to present some
of the richness of your cultural heritage, of the
spirit of the American people. It is my desire that
this spirit continue to develop and grow, so that
as many young people as possible can inherit
and dwell in a land which has inspired so many
people to dream.
God bless America

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