EVANGELII GAUDIUM - page 50

50
ent forms of aggression and conflict will find a
fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode.
When a society – whether local, national or glob-
al – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fring-
es, no political programmes or resources spent
on law enforcement or surveillance systems can
indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is not the
case simply because inequality provokes a violent
reaction from those excluded from the system,
but because the socioeconomic system is unjust
at its root. Just as goodness tends to spread, the
toleration of evil, which is injustice, tends to ex-
pand its baneful influence and quietly to under-
mine any political and social system, no matter
how solid it may appear. If every action has its
consequences, an evil embedded in the structures
of a society has a constant potential for disinte-
gration and death. It is evil crystallized in unjust
social structures, which cannot be the basis of
hope for a better future. We are far from the so-
called “end of history”, since the conditions for
a sustainable and peaceful development have not
yet been adequately articulated and realized.
60. Today’s economic mechanisms promote
inordinate consumption, yet it is evident that
unbridled consumerism combined with inequal-
ity proves doubly damaging to the social fabric.
Inequality eventually engenders a violence which
recourse to arms cannot and never will be able
to resolve. It serves only to offer false hopes to
those clamouring for heightened security, even
though nowadays we know that weapons and
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