Open Letter

"Thank you for your cry against the scandal of injustice"

P. Joaquín Alliende

By Fr. Joaquin Alliende

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.

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. Fr. Joaquin Alliende, Schoenstatt Father from Chile, 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.