Pope to NGOs: The Church does great things with little means

Francis meets  non-governmental organizations of Catholic inspiration, which have gathered in the last two days in Rome.  "We need more imagination, new ways of encountering culture".

 

 


Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Training, finding means, sharing projects.  These are the points proposed by the Pope to non-governmental organizations of Catholic inspiration.  "The Church - says Francis - has done great works with poor means.  Today's world demands more creativity, more imagination to make new ways to foster a culture of encounter ".

Thus the Catholic NGOs close a two-day meeting on the theme "Towards a more inclusive society" which saw the participation of representatives from about 90 groups.  For Francis, the role of NGOs in international organizations is "a frontier for the Church in which you can play a significant role".  With three points in mind.

The first is the formation of the people involved, because "the complexity of the world and the anthropological crisis in which we are immersed require a coherent testimony of life in order to arouse a dialogue and a positive reflection on human dignity".

It takes, for the Pope, "a great faith and trust in knowing ourselves instruments of God's action in the world", considering that "in the first place there is not our efficiency".  But we also need an "adequate professional preparation" to present scientific and humanistic subjects to "know how to present them from a Christian perspective", and the means are in the Social Doctrine of the Church.

The second point is "to have the material resources necessary to achieve the stated goals".  But Francis emphasizes that "resources are important and necessary", even though they may be insufficient, we must not be discouraged, instead we must "think that the Church has always done great works with poor means", and therefore it is a matter of making  at best their talents, without being taken by the temptations of the structures.

The third point is the sharing of the initiatives, because this "makes the value of the works shine even more", also resolving the synodality "to the service of the common good, through the co-responsibility and the contribution of each one".

Pope Francis concludes: "Today's world requires new daring and a new imagination to open up other avenues for dialogue and cooperation, to foster a culture of encounter, where the dignity of the human, according to God's creative plan, is placed at  center".