By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Where there is no tenderness, there
is cruelty and what is unfolding in Syria is a veritable “workshop of
cruelty,” Pope Francis told governing members of Caritas Internationalis.
“I believe the greatest illness of today is cardiac
sclerosis,” he said Nov. 17, implying a kind of hardening of the heart
that renders a person unable to feel compassion or be moved by another’s
suffering.
An example of this, he said, is Syria and how so many
parties are involved in the conflict, each bent on seeking its own interests
and not the freedom and well-being of the people.
“Where there is no tenderness, there is always
cruelty. And what is happening today in Syria is cruelty. There are
intersecting interests, a workshop of cruelty,” he said.
At the meeting of the Caritas Internationalis’ representative
council, Pope Francis also discussed the dangers of bureaucracies and his hope
that Caritas would not be one.
“I would like Caritas not to be an institution that
depends on the pope, the Holy See, Cor Unum, (the Pontifical Council for)
Justice and Peace. No. It is a federation of diocesan Caritas (agencies) that are
linked with the Holy See,” he said.
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI issued new statutes for Caritas
Internationalis, a Vatican-based confederation of 165 national Catholic
charities, to place it under the supervision of Cor Unum. But Cor Unum will cease
to exist Jan. 1, 2017, when it is absorbed together with three other pontifical
councils into the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
The Caritas statutes will have to be rewritten to reflect
the reorganization of the Roman Curia, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila,
president of Caritas Internationalis, told Catholic News Service after the
papal audience.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, who will be prefect of the new
dicastery, was scheduled to meet with Caritas representatives to discuss what
kind of relationship the confederation would have with the new office.
The pope told the Caritas representatives, about 80 people
gathered in the apostolic palace’s Sala Clementina, that he asked Cardinal
Tagle whether he should read his written speech aloud or just sit and listen to
what they had to say and have a “little dialogue.”
“We chose the second” proposal, the pope said
to applause.
As is the usual practice, the audience was broadcast via closed-circuit
audio feed so journalists could report on the proceedings as they unfolded.
However, the last minute change in the nature of the meeting meant the Vatican
cut off the audio feed after about 13 minutes. The Vatican later said the
encounter was meant to be private.
An unidentified man from Aleppo, Syria, thanked the pope
for his encouragement and underlined the importance of the church’s presence in
the Arab-Islamic world.
An unidentified woman who covers Caritas efforts in the
Middle East and North Africa said Pope Francis’ call to be a sign of tenderness
to the people truly changed their hearts and minds and approach to their work,
giving them greater courage in a sometimes “arid” world.
The pope told his audience that a “revolution of
tenderness” was needed, especially in a world dominated by a
“throwaway culture.”
Being tender and close to the people means holding them,
embracing them and “to not be afraid of the flesh,” the pope said.
God chose to become flesh through his son so he could be
even closer to humanity; the church, too, must be near the people and show this
same love — this “tenderness of the Father,” he said.
The flesh of Christ today, he said, are people who are
unwanted, exploited and victims of war.
“For this reason the proposals of spirituality (that
are) too theoretical are new forms of gnosticism and gnosticism is a heresy,”
he said. Gnosticism reflects an idea that a select elite can develop special
powers and gifts through specialized knowledge that is hidden from most people.
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