Rome, 23 April (LaPresse) – ‘In a world that is relapsing into the errors that have tinged the history of humanity black and in which there are those who want to return to regulating relations between peoples with violence and war, the passing of Pope Francis deprives us of a significant voice that was able to question believers and non-believers alike. He deserves all our condolences and remembrance, but what he does not deserve is the hypocrisy of those who never listened to his appeals when he was alive and today seek to bury even his powerful message in rhetoric, of those who deport migrants, take aid away from the poor, deny the climate emergency and deny treatment to those who cannot afford it’. This was said by PD secretary Elly Schlein in her speech at the commemoration of Pope Francis in the assembled chambers. ‘He was able to cross – she added – the frontiers of faith reaching out to believers and non-believers alike, indicating a path of brotherhood and solidarity. He chose from his very name to be the father of the least and this was remembered by many, but not all with the courage to call them by name and look them in the eyes as he did: the poor, war victims, migrants. Pope Francis strongly indicated that solidarity is the basis of coexistence and civilisation and he did so without prejudice. ‘If a person is gay who am I to judge’: he called for welcoming others by welcoming diversity. But in welcoming, he himself distinguished genuine closeness to the people from the exploitation of the people's fears for political ends. His voice has risen loudly against the culture of discarding that affects the elderly, the sick, migrants, prisoners, and he has done so with his body at Regina Coeli as at Lampedusa in defence of those who save lives at sea. He has committed himself against the enormous inequalities, against those who blame the poor for their poverty, against the exploitation of labour and for the safety of work, against those who build walls and, he said, remain prisoners of those same walls'. ‘‘Providing for one's own defence’, he said, ‘cannot turn into a general arms race’,’ Schlein continued. ‘He has worked,’ she concluded, ‘with concrete initiatives for peace in Kiev as in Gaza and in the many forgotten conflicts’.
© Copyright LaPresse
