POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE FORUM OF CATHOLIC-ONG - PAPE FRANÇOIS AUX PARTICIPANTS AU FORUM MONDIAL DES ONG D'INSPIRATION CATHOLIQUE

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE FORUM OF CATHOLIC-INSPIRED
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Consistory Hall
Saturday, 7 December 2019

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Dear Representatives of the Holy See to International Organizations, 
Dear Friends, Leaders of Catholic-inspired Non-Governmental Organizations,

I am pleased to welcome all of you to the See of Peter as a symbol of your communion with the universal Church. You have come from various countries of the world in order to share experiences and reflections on the theme of inclusion. I thank you for this initiative, by which you wish to offer a concrete testimony to help the most vulnerable be accepted and included, and thus to make our world a “common home”. You accomplish all this with experiences both on the ground and in the international political context.

Many of you are concerned to be present in the places where discussions are taking place about human rights, people’s living conditions, habitat, education and development, and other social problems. In this way, you demonstrate what the Second Vatican Council referred to as “the presence of the Church in the world, and her life and activity there” (Gaudium et Spes, 40). For the Church, those places are a “frontier” where she can play a significant role. As the Council stated, in speaking of the cooperation of Christians in international institutions: “Different Catholic international bodies can assist the community of nations on the way to peace, sisterhood and brotherhood; these bodies should be strengthened by increasing the number of their trained members, by increasing the subsidies they need so badly, and by suitable coordination of their forces. Nowadays, efficiency of action and the need for dialogue call for concerted effort” (ibid., 90). This statement of the Council remains timely, and I would like to address three aspects of it: 1) the formation of members, 2) having the necessary means, and 3) coordinating initiatives through “teamwork”.

First, formation. The complexity of our world and the anthropological crisis in which we find ourselves today call for a consistent ....

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