Aid to the Church in Need: Charity president praises Pope's new encyclical

Charity president praises Pope's new encyclical

Posted by ACN News on 14/7/2009, 10:24 am
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ACN-News: “Thank you for your cry against the scandal of injustice”

On the occasion of the publication of the Holy Father’s new encyclical, Father Joaquin Alliende has written an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI. This Chilean priest is a member of Cor Unum, the Pontifical Council for social issues at the international level. He is co-author of various documents of the Latin American episcopate on issues of justice and solidarity. He is also international president of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the international Catholic pastoral charity founded by the legendary Dutch religious Father Werenfried van Straaten in 1947. This charity specialises in pastoral aid, especially for refugees and persecuted Christians, and seeks to promote ecumenism with the Russian Orthodox Church.

(Father Joaquin Alliende)

OPEN LETTER

Holy Father,
Through my work I have the privilege of listening to the cries of the poor from over 140 different countries. I take the liberty of speaking to you in their name. Thank you for your cry against the scandal of injustice. Thank you for having shown us the way of hope that is not simply one more illusion, one more adventure leading to a new failure. Thank you for your encyclical “Caritas in veritate”. Your words proclaim the fact that the poverty and inequality in the world are not a question of fate, not simply a natural disaster. You urge us to be conscious of our own freedom. You awaken our sense of responsibility for the shaping of a 21st century of peace that is born of truth and justice. You convey to us the wisdom of Christ. You show us the meaning of an intelligent, rational and effective love. Your encyclical opens up the horizons of practical brotherhood and solidarity. In it there shines the essential truth of human friendship. In your encyclical you respond to our crucial questions: Can the inhabitants of this earth live together as brothers? Can those in greatest need be put first among us all? How can we be brothers without each of us being children of the living God? Following the disaster of the financial crisis, you point out to us that justice and solidarity are not achieved simply by making financial adjustments. Rather than changing laws and regulations, you call for a firm ethical decision, in a spirit of national and global harmony. Moreover, you venture to ask space for a creative and spontaneous fraternity. To the leaders of this world you propose the Gospel, as the soul of the economy of a future age. Thank you, Holy Father, for your stark realism and for the uncompromising truth of love.

Sincerely,

P. Joaquín Alliende.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org