Helping these people is not a form of socialism, it's Church teaching.

Zampini says the Church's advocacy for the poor has resulted in some people accusing it of being socialists.

"Our answer is": ‘So, some companies are asking for help, and that's not socialism, but if poor people or informal workers need help, that's socialism?'

"This is not about ideology. This is not about socialism or capitalism."

"All the structures of society are being challenged at the moment. What we are trying to implement is the preferential option for the poor. That's one of the basic principles, and it is an ethical imperative according to Laudato Si," Zampini says.

Zampini, who is an adjunct secretary in the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, says while all proposals have complications, including providing a universal basic income, "we need to do something."

"We cannot remain indifferent, and these people cannot be invisible for society."

He pointed out that at present "millions of people" are losing their jobs.

While some people's needs are covered by the market and others receive unemployment insurance from the state, "what happens to those millions of people who aren't covered by either the market or the state?"

They are being forced by the pandemic to stay at home.

Zampini says one person told him that if he stayed home without working, his family risked dying of hunger, but going out meant he could also be infected or that he could infect someone else.

"We cannot force them to stay at home…without any support," Zampini says.

He echoes Pope Francis's call for a universal basic income.

"It has its pros and cons, but if you weigh these pros and cons today, there's no doubt we should do something, at least if we want to promote health for everyone.

"We need to sustain those who are doing something for society such as staying home."

The Vatican's coronavirus taskforce is charged with handling the challenges resulting from the pandemic.

Led by Cardinal Peter Turkson of the Vatican's development department, five working groups are looking at different aspects of the pandemic fallout, including unemployment and research.

Tying the Church's response to the pandemic fallout to the papal encyclical, Laudato Si', Turkson says "We listen to the cry of creation and the cry of the poor."

Zampini also points out that the world is facing a severe food shortage, which could cause violent conflicts to arise due to insecurity, creating an even larger class of those living in poverty.

"The value of society is determined by how it treats its most vulnerable members," he says.

Helping poor and jobless people affected by COVID-19 is, "an opportunity to change, both in production and consumption patterns and in private and public actions."

Source

• Crux
• Image:SBS

Turkson is the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development at the Vatican.

In his keynote address last week to the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI), Turkson aid he recognises the abuse crisis as one of four "signs of the times".

He said he understood something of the impact of the scandals on the local church in Ireland after attending two world events.

One was the International Eucharistic Congress in 2012 and the other, the World Meeting of Families in 2018.

He said he noticed that at the 2012 congress that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin apologised "too much" - at every event he addressed.

"At one point I thought it was too much. I thought he was making this huge cloud hang over everything," Turkson said.

Four years later, while attending the World Meeting of Families in 2018, Turkston said while he recognised the scandals, the pain of the victims and he agreed with Pope Francis's messages to victims, it was time "exit the experience".

" ...otherwise it will suffocate us," he said.

Sr Liz Murphy, who is the Secretary General of AMRI, later spoke of Turkston's address.

"It can be difficult for someone who has not lived through the past 20 years in Ireland to understand fully the effects of the abuse scandals.

"I believe he [Turkston] was challenging us to move forward and to be vigilant of all forms of abuse today."

Turkson's address to AMRI also included the topic "Mission Today in our Common Home".

The ecological crisis and climate change are also signs of the times today, he said.

This sign "invites us to a particular form of mission that we can carry out by hearing the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor," he said.

Turkston highlighted the growing inequality in communities between the rich and the poor, the throwaway culture that sees so many abandoned and discarded and the threat of war to global security.

He said Pope Francis is urging the faithful not to let fear over a lack of resources or of a challenging situation inhibit them as missionaries.

"We sin against mission when we fail to spread joy, when we think of ourselves as victims," Turkston said.

"In the world and in the Church, we sin against mission when we become slaves to the fears that immobilise us."

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: Wikipedia

Speaking to a two-day summit of Catholic and labour movement leaders at the Vatican last Friday, O'Grady said the world needs a new figure like Cardinal Manning.

(Manning was influential in setting the modern-day Catholic Church direction, advocated for social justice and helped settle the London dock strike of 1889.)

"He [Manning] didn't just make moral pronouncements but rolled up his sleeves and tried to bring about a fair settlement to the dockers' dispute," O'Grady continued.

She called on Catholics to challenge the titans of technology.

She named some of them as including tech giants Apple, Facebook and Google.

O'Grady went on to say these three tech giants negatively impact workers by not paying their fair share of taxes.

They are joined by Uber and Amazon, who exploit workers, O'Grady claimed.

She says they are "washing their hands" of the employer-employee relationship.

"When I speak to those young workers of Sports Direct, McDonalds or Amazon, they feel pretty alone in the world.

"They are facing employers that are far, far more powerful than the dockers' ones and need somebody to stand by their side and speak up for their rights.

"I would hope the Church can play a role."

The Vatican meeting O'Grady was addressing was organised by Cardinal Peter Turkston, who leads the Vatican's newly formed social action department.

The meeting's aim was to hear testimony of injustices suffered by working people and to consider how trade unions and the church can work together to achieve greater social justice.

In an advance press release, O'Grady said she would speak of young people she has met.

"This year I met the ‘McStrikers' - young fast-food workers at McDonald's, stuck on low pay and zero-hours contracts.

"Their demands are the same as the dockers nearly 130 years ago. They want a fair wage, guaranteed hours and recognition of their trade union...".

The press release continues:

"The church and the unions "share values of community, dignity and social solidarity … Together we can improve working lives and put dignity for working people ahead of market forces and freedom of capital.

"We can build a popular alliance for economic justice, in Britain and around the world."

Pope Francis has spoken against social injustice throughout his papacy.

In 2015 he denounced "the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature."

At that time, he called the unfettered pursuit of money "the dung of the devil".

Source

• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• The Irish Post
• The Guardian
• Image: Tarek Shelaby