Pope Francis: Promote a culture that prioritizes human dignity

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Pope Francis: Promote a culture that prioritizes human dignity

Pope Francis said Saturday that politics needs a renewal after the pandemic through the promotion of a culture that prioritizes human dignity.

ā€œThe pandemic, with its long aftermath of isolation and ‘social hypertension,ā€™ has inevitably also challenged political action itself, politics as we know it,ā€ Pope Francis said on Sept. 4.

ā€œIt is therefore a question of working simultaneously on two levels: cultural and institutional,ā€ he said.

The pope told members of the organization, Leaders Pour la Paix (Leaders for Peace), that helping others to understand the root causes of problems can be considered an ā€œeducation for peace.ā€

ā€œIt is important to promote a ā€˜culture of faces,ā€™ which places the dignity of the person at the center, a respect for his or her story, especially if they are wounded and marginalized,ā€ he said in an audience with the group at the Vatican.

ā€œIt is also a ā€˜culture of encounterā€™ in which we listen to and welcome our brothers and sisters, with trust in the reserves of good that are in the hearts of the people.ā€

Leaders Pour la Paix is an organization founded by the former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin that brings together high-level government representatives from around the world.

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations, are among the its board of leaders, along with Kamal Kharazi, the former Iranian foreign minister, and Quan Kong, a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

The group of 36 world leaders aims to reduce conflicts through prevention by alerting public opinion and decision-makers on risky situations and their consequences, according to its website.

Pope Francis encouraged the members of the organization to pursue peace through multilateral institutions.

ā€œIt is urgent to encourage dialogue and multilateral collaboration, because multilateral agreements better guarantee the protection of a truly universal common good and of the weakest states than bilateral ones,ā€ he said.

The pope underlined that this is ā€œa particularly critical historical momentā€ in which the pandemic has not yet been overcome and its economic and social consequences are weighing heavily on ā€œthe lives of the poorest.ā€

ā€œNot only has it impoverished the human family of many lives, each one precious and unrepeatable; it has also sown much desolation and increased tensions,ā€ Francis said, according to a Catholic News Agency report.

ā€œFaced with the worsening of multiple converging political and environmental crises – hunger, climate, nuclear weapons to name a few – your commitment to peace has never been so necessary and urgent.ā€