教宗在美国：对奥巴马阐述环保、古巴以及全面发展模式
华盛顿（亚洲新闻）—“理性地负责任地照顾我们的共同家园”；与古巴关系正常化；保护“我们世界中最弱势的人”；推动“全面发展、包括所有人的发展”；“建设一个公正的、有秩序的社会，尊重他们最关心的问题以及他们的宗教自由权”也是美国天主教徒期待的。这是教宗方济各与在九月二十三日美国总统府白宫前举行的隆重欢迎仪式上向美国总统发表的讲话。
奥巴马向“第一位美洲教宗”致意，盛赞教宗“爱与希望的信息使许多美国人和世界人充满了希望”。“许多不是天主教徒的人对您充满了信心”，“您召叫天主教徒和非天主教徒将穷人放在我们努力的中心；指出衡量一个社会的标准不是财富而是帮助穷人”；“保证了每个人都能得到尊重，因为我们都是天主的肖像”。
接着，教宗发表了讲话，全文如下:
“During my visit I will have the honor of addressing Congress, where I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation’s political future in fidelity to its founding principles. I will also travel to Philadelphia for the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to celebrate and support the institutions of marriage and the family at this, a critical moment in the history of our civilization.
“Mr. President, together with their fellow citizens, American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination. With countless other people of good will, they are likewise concerned that efforts to build a just and wisely ordered society respect their deepest concerns and their right to religious liberty. That freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.
“Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation. When it comes to the care of our ‘common home’, we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about ‘a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change’ (Laudato Si’, 13). Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them. Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies. To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.
“We know by faith that ‘the Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home’ (Laudato Si’, 13). As Christians inspired by this certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible care of our common home.
“The efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to cooperation within our human family represent positive steps along the path of reconciliation, justice and freedom. I would like all men and women of good will in this great nation to support the efforts of the international community to protect the vulnerable in our world and to stimulate integral and inclusive models of development, so that our brothers and sisters everywhere may know the blessings of peace and prosperity which God wills for all his children.”
