At 11:30am this morning (5:30am EST), in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in an International Conference on the theme: Drugs and Dependency: an obstacle to integral human development, organized by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, taking place at the Vatican, in the New Synod Hall, from 29 November to 1 December 2018.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I willingly welcome you at the end of your International Conference on Drugs and Addictions. I greet you all cordially and I thank Cardinal Turkson for the words with which he introduced our meeting.
During these past few days you have dealt with issues and problems related to the worrying phenomenon of drugs and old and new addictions that hinder integral human development. The community as a whole is challenged by current socio-cultural dynamics and pathological forms derived from a secularized cultural climate, marked by consumer capitalism, self-sufficiency, loss of values, existential emptiness, and the precariousness of ties and relationships. The drug, as has already been stressed several times, is a wound in our society, which traps many people in its networks. They are victims who have lost their freedom in exchange for this slavery, an addiction that we can call chemical.
The use of drugs causes serious damage to health, human life and society; you are well aware of this. We are all called to combat the production, processing and distribution of drugs throughout the world. It is the duty of governments to courageously tackle this struggle against the traffickers of death. Traffickers of death: we must not be afraid to use this qualification. An increasingly risky area in this domain is virtual space: in some Internet sites, where young people - and not only young people - are enticed and dragged into a slavery from which it is difficult to free themselves and which leads to the loss of the meaning of life and sometimes of life itself. Faced with this worrying scenario, the Church urgently feels the need to establish a form of humanism in the contemporary world that brings the human person back to the centre of socio-economic-cultural discourse; a humanism whose foundation is the Gospel of Mercy. Starting from this point, the disciples of Jesus found inspiration to implement truly effective pastoral action in order to alleviate, cure and heal the many sufferings related to the multiform dependencies present on the human scene.
The Church, together with civil, national and international institutions, and the various educational agencies, is actively engaged in all parts of the world in countering the spread of addictions by mobilizing its energies toward prevention, care, rehabilitation and reintegration projects aimed at restoring dignity to those who have been deprived of it. To overcome addictions, a uniform commitment is required, involving all the different realities present in the territory in implementing social programs oriented towards health, family support and above all education. In this perspective, I join the hopes you have formulated in your Conference, so that there is greater coordination of anti-drug and anti-addiction policies - there is no need for isolated policies: this is a human problem, a social problem, everything must be connected - creating networks of solidarity and proximity towards those who are marked by these pathologies.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you very much for the contribution of study and reflection you have offered in these days. I encourage you to continue, in the various areas in which you operate, your work of animation and support also in favour of those who have emerged from the drug tunnel and from various addictions. These people need the help and support of all of us: they in turn can soothe the suffering of many brothers and sisters in difficulty.
I entrust your commitment and your good intentions to the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Health of the Sick and, while I ask you to pray for me, I warmly bless all of you, your families and your communities. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
offered to those participating in the
International Conference on Drugs and Dependency
Dear brothers and sisters,
I willingly welcome you at the end of your International Conference on Drugs and Addictions. I greet you all cordially and I thank Cardinal Turkson for the words with which he introduced our meeting.
During these past few days you have dealt with issues and problems related to the worrying phenomenon of drugs and old and new addictions that hinder integral human development. The community as a whole is challenged by current socio-cultural dynamics and pathological forms derived from a secularized cultural climate, marked by consumer capitalism, self-sufficiency, loss of values, existential emptiness, and the precariousness of ties and relationships. The drug, as has already been stressed several times, is a wound in our society, which traps many people in its networks. They are victims who have lost their freedom in exchange for this slavery, an addiction that we can call chemical.
The use of drugs causes serious damage to health, human life and society; you are well aware of this. We are all called to combat the production, processing and distribution of drugs throughout the world. It is the duty of governments to courageously tackle this struggle against the traffickers of death. Traffickers of death: we must not be afraid to use this qualification. An increasingly risky area in this domain is virtual space: in some Internet sites, where young people - and not only young people - are enticed and dragged into a slavery from which it is difficult to free themselves and which leads to the loss of the meaning of life and sometimes of life itself. Faced with this worrying scenario, the Church urgently feels the need to establish a form of humanism in the contemporary world that brings the human person back to the centre of socio-economic-cultural discourse; a humanism whose foundation is the Gospel of Mercy. Starting from this point, the disciples of Jesus found inspiration to implement truly effective pastoral action in order to alleviate, cure and heal the many sufferings related to the multiform dependencies present on the human scene.
The Church, together with civil, national and international institutions, and the various educational agencies, is actively engaged in all parts of the world in countering the spread of addictions by mobilizing its energies toward prevention, care, rehabilitation and reintegration projects aimed at restoring dignity to those who have been deprived of it. To overcome addictions, a uniform commitment is required, involving all the different realities present in the territory in implementing social programs oriented towards health, family support and above all education. In this perspective, I join the hopes you have formulated in your Conference, so that there is greater coordination of anti-drug and anti-addiction policies - there is no need for isolated policies: this is a human problem, a social problem, everything must be connected - creating networks of solidarity and proximity towards those who are marked by these pathologies.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you very much for the contribution of study and reflection you have offered in these days. I encourage you to continue, in the various areas in which you operate, your work of animation and support also in favour of those who have emerged from the drug tunnel and from various addictions. These people need the help and support of all of us: they in turn can soothe the suffering of many brothers and sisters in difficulty.
I entrust your commitment and your good intentions to the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Health of the Sick and, while I ask you to pray for me, I warmly bless all of you, your families and your communities. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
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