At the conclusion of the luncheon he shared with seminarians from the International Roman Seminary who were discussing the proposal of Pope Francis in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium for a more inclusive economy, a meeting that is taking place at Casina Pio IV in the Vatican on July 12 of this year, the Holy Father shared the following thoughts:
I wish to thank the Cardinal President for his words; I also wish to thank you all for your company, for your invitation and for the work you are accomplishing. You are involved in such important discussions: reflecting on reality, but this is fearless reflection, intelligent reflection. Fearless and intelligent. This is truly a valuable service.
One of you was speaking with me about reductionisms, but I would only like to speak about the first: anthropological reductionism. I believe that this is the best time for anthropological reductionism. The same thing is happening to human beings that happens to wine when it becomes grappa: he is experiencing a change in alchemy. When this happens, it is no longer wine - it is something else: perhaps it is more useful, more refined, but it is no longer wine! For humanity, it is the same: mankind experiences this change and he is finished - I'm serious about this! - He loses his humanity and becomes an instrument of the system, the social system, economics, a system where he loses his equilibrium. When a man loses his humanity, what's left? I think that what happens can be explained in common language: political language, sociological language, an attitude of disposability: we throw away that which is not useful, because humanity is not the focus. And when man is not the focus, there is another thing that is the focus and man is at the service of this other thing. The focus is then on the salvation of man, in the sense of returning him to the centre: to the centre of society, to the centre of all thoughts, to the centre of reflection. The important thing is to return mankind once more to the centre. This is beautiful work, and you are working at it. I want to thank you for this work. You are studying, you are reflecting, you have organized this meeting for this purpose, because mankind is not disposable. Society is discarding children, just consider the birth rate - at least here in Europe - everyone knows it; society discards the elderly because they are no longer useful. And now? We are discarding an entire generation of young people, and this is indeed a very serious matter! I saw a figure: 75 million young people, under the age of 25 years, are unemployed. These are not-not youth: they are not studying and they are not working. They are not studying because they don't see any possible future, they are not working because there is no work to be had. This is another disposability! What will the next disposable thing be? Let's stop this madness before it's too late, please!
I want to thank you. I thank you for the help that you are providing through your work, through your reflection to improve this unbalanced situation and to help all people to recuperate from this reality, to become re-centred in his reflection, and to focus on the importance of human beings at the centre of life. He is the king of the universe! And this is not theology, it is not a matter of philosophy - it is a human reality. From this realization, the discussion can continue. Thank you, I really want to thank you. Thank you!
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the meeting with seminarians
discussion his proposition for a more inclusive economy
I wish to thank the Cardinal President for his words; I also wish to thank you all for your company, for your invitation and for the work you are accomplishing. You are involved in such important discussions: reflecting on reality, but this is fearless reflection, intelligent reflection. Fearless and intelligent. This is truly a valuable service.
One of you was speaking with me about reductionisms, but I would only like to speak about the first: anthropological reductionism. I believe that this is the best time for anthropological reductionism. The same thing is happening to human beings that happens to wine when it becomes grappa: he is experiencing a change in alchemy. When this happens, it is no longer wine - it is something else: perhaps it is more useful, more refined, but it is no longer wine! For humanity, it is the same: mankind experiences this change and he is finished - I'm serious about this! - He loses his humanity and becomes an instrument of the system, the social system, economics, a system where he loses his equilibrium. When a man loses his humanity, what's left? I think that what happens can be explained in common language: political language, sociological language, an attitude of disposability: we throw away that which is not useful, because humanity is not the focus. And when man is not the focus, there is another thing that is the focus and man is at the service of this other thing. The focus is then on the salvation of man, in the sense of returning him to the centre: to the centre of society, to the centre of all thoughts, to the centre of reflection. The important thing is to return mankind once more to the centre. This is beautiful work, and you are working at it. I want to thank you for this work. You are studying, you are reflecting, you have organized this meeting for this purpose, because mankind is not disposable. Society is discarding children, just consider the birth rate - at least here in Europe - everyone knows it; society discards the elderly because they are no longer useful. And now? We are discarding an entire generation of young people, and this is indeed a very serious matter! I saw a figure: 75 million young people, under the age of 25 years, are unemployed. These are not-not youth: they are not studying and they are not working. They are not studying because they don't see any possible future, they are not working because there is no work to be had. This is another disposability! What will the next disposable thing be? Let's stop this madness before it's too late, please!
I want to thank you. I thank you for the help that you are providing through your work, through your reflection to improve this unbalanced situation and to help all people to recuperate from this reality, to become re-centred in his reflection, and to focus on the importance of human beings at the centre of life. He is the king of the universe! And this is not theology, it is not a matter of philosophy - it is a human reality. From this realization, the discussion can continue. Thank you, I really want to thank you. Thank you!
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