The high rate of youth unemployment in Europe is alarming. I won’t make a list of the countries of Europe, but I will give two examples of serious unemployment in these two wealthy countries in Europe. In one, the index of unemployment is 25 percent of overall unemployment. But in this very same country, the index of youth unemployment is 43 or 44 percent. That means that 43 or 44 percent of the youth of this country are unemployed! In another country, with an index of over 30 percent overall unemployment, unemployment among young people has already exceeded 50 percent. We are facing a growing phenomenon of young people being “discarded.” In order to support such a global political model, we simply discard those on its margins. Curiously, we discard those that hold the promise for the future, because the future lies in the hands of our young people since they will be the ones who carry out this future, as well as the elderly, who need to pass on their wisdom to our youths. By discarding both, the world will collapse.
I do not know if I’m making myself clear. A humanistic ethic is missing throughout the world. I’m talking about a worldwide problem—on a worldwide level, as I more or less know it. I’m not very familiar with details regarding this country. And if you give me a minute more, I will say something else regarding this issue. In the twelfth century, there was a very good rabbi who was a writer. Through stories, he explained moral problems to his community that were in some passages of the Bible. Once, he explained the Tower of Babel to them. This medieval rabbi, from the twelfth century, explained it in the following terms: What was the problem with the Tower of Babel? Why did God punish them? To build the tower, they needed to make bricks: cart the mud, cut the straw, mix the two together, cut them, dry them, cook them, and then take them up to the top of the tower. This is how it was built. If a brick fell, it was a national catastrophe. If a worker fell, nothing happened.
Today there are children who have nothing to eat in this world, children who are dying of hunger and malnutrition. Just look at photographs of some of the places in this world. There are sick people who do not have access to health care. There are men and women who are beggars who are dying in the cold of winter. There are children who do not receive an education. All this does not make the news. Yet, when the stock exchange loses three or four points in a few capitals of the world, it’s a worldwide catastrophe. Do you understand what I am saying? This is the tragedy of this inhumane humanism that we are experiencing. For this reason, we need to come to the aid of those living on the margins—children and young people—without falling into a global mentality of indifference with respect to these two extremes, who are the future of a nation.
Excuse me if I have dwelt too much on this and have spoken too much. By doing so, you have my opinion. What’s happening with young people in Brazil? I don’t know. But, please, do not manipulate them. Listen to them, because it is a worldwide phenomenon, which extends far beyond Brazil.
Very interesting! That’s a very deep thought. I’d like to ask you one last thing. What is your message you’d like to give to Brazilians who are Catholic as well as to Brazilians who are not Catholic, who belong to other religions. For example, Rabbi [Abraham] Skorka, your friend from Buenos Aires, was here. What message would you leave to a country like Brazil?
I think we should promote a culture of encounter throughout the world, so that everyone may experience the need to impart ethical values to mankind, which are needed so much today, and to protect this human reality. In this regard, I think it is important that everyone works together for others, pruning away our selfishness and working for others according to the values of the faith, which is ours. Every denomination has its own beliefs, but, according to the values that are part of this faith, we need to work for those around us. Moreover, we need to meet together in order to work together for others. If there is a child who is hungry and who is not receiving an education, what should matter to us is putting an end to this hunger and making sure he receives an education. It doesn’t matter whether those who provide this education are Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, or Jews. I don’t care. What matters is that they be educated and that they be nourished.
The urgency today is such that we cannot quarrel among ourselves to the expense of others. We must first work together for those around us, then talk together among ourselves in a deep way, with each one giving witness to their own faith, trying to understand each other, of course. But today, above all, closeness is urgently needed, a need to step out of our comfort zone in order to resolve the terrible problems that exist in today’s world. I believe that the different religions or the different denominations—I prefer to speak about different denominations—cannot sleep peacefully as long as there is even one child who is dying of hunger, one child who goes without an education, one young person or one elderly person who goes without medical attention. Nevertheless, the work of these religions, these denominations is not one of charity. This is true. As regards at least our Catholic faith, our Christian faith, we will be judged by these works of mercy.
It will serve no purpose to talk about our theologies if we do not have the closeness to others to go out to help and support others, especially in this world where so many people are falling from the tower and no one is saying anything.
Thank you, Pope Francis. Thank you for the interview and for your message for Brazil.
I thank you for your kindness. This is a wonderful people. Wonderful!
In spite of the cold weather that welcomed you?
No, I’m from the south. I’m familiar with the cold weather in Buenos Aires. This is normal autumn weather.
So you’re not amazed by the cold? Brazil is more tropical than Argentina. Didn’t you expect Brazil to be a little warmer?
No. Maybe I did expect it to be a bit warmer, but I haven’t felt the cold.
Chapter Three
Radio Catedral
For a More Humane Culture
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Pope Francis made a brief visit to the studios of Radio Catedral. But he chose his words carefully and spoke about solidarity, one of the pillars of Catholic social teaching, and on the connected theme of the dangers of a “throwaway culture.” As he admonishes his listeners, “Solidarity includes everyone.”
After lunch with the bishops of Brazil, Pope Francis visited the studios of Radio Catedral in Rio de Janeiro, where he spoke the following words, the Italian translation of which appeared in the July 29-30, 2013, edition of L’Osservatore Romano.
Hello and good afternoon to all my listeners. I thank you for listening, and I also thank the staff of this radio station for their kindness in inviting me to speak on air.
As I thank them, I am looking around this radio station and I see that the means of communication are very important today. I would have to say that a radio station, a Catholic radio station, is the most immediate pulpit that we have today. Here, through radio, we can proclaim human values, religious values, and, above all, we can proclaim Christ Jesus the Lord. We can be gracious enough to make room for the Lord among the affairs of our daily life.
So, I greet you and I thank you for all the efforts this archdiocese is making to have and maintain a radio station with such a large network. I ask all the listeners to pray for me, to pray for this radio station, to pray for your bishop, to pray for the archdiocese, so that all of us can join in prayer and can work, as the priest said a moment ago, for a more humane culture that is richer in values and that excludes no one.
Let us all work for that word which is unpopular today: solidarity. It is a word that people always try to put aside, because it is irksome. Yet it is a word that reflects the human