P. Henri de RIEDMATTEN

Intervention à la 54e Conférence internationale du travail (OIT)*

17 juin 1970

[...] A côté et au-dessus de ces raisons d’élémentaire courtoisie, un motif plus profond nous a amenés à intervenir dans le débat sur le rapport du directeur général. C’est que celui-ci porte un titre et traite d’un thème qui ne peut qu’émouvoir toute conscience chrétienne la pauvreté. Quand Jean-Baptiste envoie ses disciples interroger le Christ sur sa mission, le Christ, ramassant l’espérance messianique en quelques signes, couronne cette énumération par le plus typique d’entre eux et répond: «Les pauvres reçoivent la bonne nouvelle.»

S’inquiéter du sort des pauvres, se dépenser pour améliorer leur condition, ne compter dans cette œuvre ni son temps ni sa peine, c’est un des moments essentiels de toute vie qui se veut fidèle à l’Evangile. Et c’est un devoir pour qui s’avoue adepte de celui-ci que de travailler avec tout homme, toute collectivité, toute organisation qui, dans l’effort humain le plus noble, poursuit des buts analogues.

Dans l’introduction à son rapport, M. Morse fait une fort opportune remarque à l’adresse de ceux qui préparent la deuxième décennie pour le développement « Il importera tout autant, au cours de la prochaine décennie, et par la suite, de planifier le développement de façon à amener une amélioration notable du niveau de vie des masses à brève échéance et non dans un avenir indéterminé, que de fixer à la croissance économique des objectifs d’ensemble ambitieux». Marquant ainsi l’objectif authentique du développement, l’homme, M. Morse, avec tant d’autres experts aujourd’hui, plaide dans la terminologie spécifique de l’OIT pour une conception du développement plus intégrale, plus qualitative et plus clairement orientée vers sa vraie fin.

A vrai dire, ma délégation s’est quelque peu émue de trouver dans la première note du premier chapitre du rapport une définition de la pauvreté identifiant celle-ci à son pire échelon, celui du dénuement matériel total, de l’état sous-humain». La lecture du texte intégral du chapitre nous a rassurés. La pauvreté n’y est pas ramenée à un élément quantifiable; on nous y dit expressément que l’étalon pour établir qu’il y a pauvreté, ce sont les exigences posées par la dignité de l’homme. Je ne m’étendrai pas sur toutes les consé­quences d’une telle notion. Je relèverai seulement que choisir une pareille norme revient à dire que la pauvreté qu’on veut et qu’on doit combattre est la somme des conditions interdisant à un individu, à une famille, à une communauté, voire à une ethnie tout entière de jouir des droits de l’homme et, corrélativement, d’exercer à part entière ses devoirs dans la communauté, car l’exercice de ces devoirs est lui aussi part essentielle de la dignité pleine de l’homme.

Qu’on nous permette de reprendre ici encore, un angle un peu différent, des notions exposées avec brio à cette tribune par le ministre du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Population de la France. Nous distinguerons deux grands types de pauvreté clans les sociétés modernes, tant développées qu’en voie de développement : celle des marginaux et celle des membres à part entière de la communauté. Dans cette dernière notion, nous visons des pauvres qui, théori­quement, ne sont victimes d’aucune discrimination, mais ils sont pauvres parce que le système auquel ils sont intégrés et à la prospérité duquel ils contribuent ne leur permet pas, en fait, de jouir du bien-être auquel d’autres couches sociales, parties au même système, ont un accès qui semble aller de soi. De ce point de vue, il n’est aucune société dite développée ou sous-développée qui n’ait ses pauvres. Il reste qu’il n’y a pas de comparaison entre les garanties qu’une grande prospérité économique confère à des systèmes sociaux fort élaborés et la précarité des situations et des niveaux de vie dans les pays à revenu dérisoire ou grossièrement réparti qui constituent ce qu’on appelle le tiers-monde. Il faut bien avouer qu’ici la dépendance du social par rapport à l’économique est capitale ; le tout est de savoir ce qui est moyen et ce qui est fin.

La situation des pauvres marginaux pose des questions difficiles qu’il faut donc aborder franchement. Parmi tant d’autres causes, nous voudrions souligner le déséquilibre démographique et les proportions gigantesques de l’urbanisation, ce cadeau empoisonné que la culture moderne a fait aux pays en voie de développement. Le phénomène d’urbanisation est général mais il est partout grevé de lourdes hypothèques. Le mythe de la ville, source d’un bien-être caractérisé par la jouissance des conquêtes de la civilisation moderne, provoque l’afflux d’une population rurale frustrée. Or, celle-ci devient souvent une population urbaine plus frustrée encore mais trop attachée aux promesses de la ville pour regretter son passé. Tant qu’on n’aura pas, avec une vraie volonté politique, traité de ce problème et des réformes de structure qu’il appelle, on laissera subsister une source abondante de pauvreté, de misère et de conditions infrahumaines.

En parlant de déséquilibre démographique, j’ai conscience de me distancer des termes du rapport. Il nous paraît, en effet, fort contestable que l’on soit autorisé à généraliser avec celui-ci quand il dit que «la planification familiale reste le pivot de la politique démographi­que des pays en voie de développement». Certes, il y a de par le monde beaucoup de très graves problèmes dus à la croissance démographique. Mais ne constate-t-on pas également que, en analogie à certains pays développés, une série de pays dits en voie de développement affrontent des situations de sous-population ne permettant pas ou plus le maintien du rythme de la croissance ou de la croissance tout court faute de travailleurs ?

Dans de telles conjonctures, on a recours à des réservoirs de main-d’œuvre étrangère, ce qui aboutit à la constitution de véritables groupes erratiques dans des communautés nationales qui profitent de leur travail sans pouvoir les intégrer. Le phénomène des migrations intracontinentales en Europe, en Amérique latine et en Afrique retient de plus en plus l’attention des spécialistes. Je mentionnerai, à titre d’exemple, les excellentes enquêtes menées par mes collègues de la Commission internationale catholique des migrations dans les trois continents susnommés. L’OIT ne saurait se désintéresser du fait que l’état marginal n’est pas toujours fonction d’un barème discriminatoire des salaires mais d’une discrimination sociale de fait.

Doit-on, dans de tels cas, chercher à améliorer les conditions sociales des transferts de populations ? Ou bien, selon la suggestion de Jean XXIII, transporter les machines là où sont les hommes plutôt que de transporter les hommes là où sont les machines ? Ou bien encore, concentrant son seul effort sur les effets de la surpopulation, permettre que des pays soient minés par ceux de la sous-population?

Les aspects techniques de ce problème sont laissés a votre sagacité. Mais nul n’a mieux caractérisé le sens des politiques démographiques que S. Exc. le président de l’Inde quand il nous disait l’autre jour dans son discours plein de substance « Certes, la perspective d’une bouche supplémentaire à nourrir peut être alarmante, mais il convient de ne pas oublier les deux mains supplémentaires qui s’offrent pour travailler. Si nous ne devons pas ménager l’effort pour contenir l’accroissement démographique, ne nous affolons pas devant l’augmentation de la population dont nous ferons un actif grâce à une politique de l’emploi avisée.

La pauvreté se combat par une action dynamique constante; qui dit dynamique dit plénitude d’effort, d’énergie et de vie et donc vise très directement la jeunesse. Le rapport fait allusion à l’insatisfaction de celle-ci, mais a-t-il suffisamment tablé sur la créativité de la jeunesse ?

Tout quinquagénaire, et j’en suis un, doit loyalement accepter cette donnée que les aspirations et le dynamisme de la jeunesse de 1970 ne coïncident ni avec nos aspirations, ni avec notre dynamisme, ni même avec ce que furent les aspirations et le dynamisme de notre jeunesse à nous. Or, si la jeunesse n’a pas toujours été une classe ou un état, elle l’est aujourd’hui. Gardons-nous de toute utopie en ce qui concerne ses desseins. Il n’appartient pas aux adultes de jouer les jeunes, mais il ne leur appartient pas non plus de les ignorer, d’augmenter leur scepticisme à notre endroit, de décider pour eux ce qu’ils ressentent et que nous ne ressentons pas. La réciprocité dans la compréhension n’est pas la caractéristique des générations contemporaines. Mais nous devons nous demander si du formidable potentiel courageux et conscient, quels que soient ses excès, que représente la jeunesse, on a suffisamment fait pour aider le monde en voie de développement à sortir de son marasme. Sans doute, les principes moraux sont immuables; il n’y a pas à les sacrifier pour être dans le vent de la génération montante. Mais, vieux routier des institutions internationales, je m’interroge souvent avec angoisse sur le fait de savoir si ce qu’on y débat et décide sur la jeunesse, faute d’intégration pleine de celle-ci et d’intérêt à cette part de nos travaux, n’est pas entaché d’un grave irréalisme ?

En terminant, permettez-moi une dernière remarque. Nous en sommes tous d’accord, la pauvreté est un ennemi de la dignité humaine; nul homme ne peut dormir quand son frère vit pauvre auprès de lui. Ne m’en veuillez pas pourtant de mettre en garde contre la tendance trop commune à confondre la condition du plein épanouissement humain avec la disposition de ressources matérielles enlevant sur ce côté toute inquiétude. Je ne disserterai pas sur la pauvreté, volontairement embrassée, et à qui l’humanité doit tant de ses saints et de ses héros. Mais, à la lumière de leurs exemples, on se demande si nos programmes éducatifs et sociaux font encore sa part à l’exigence d’austérité et de rigueur que pose la recherche des plus hautes valeurs qui font l’homme.

La grave menace qui pèse sur les pays de haute abondance matérielle, du fait notamment de cette jeunesse dont je parlais tout à l’heure, fatiguée des utilités, prête à toute folie pour échapper non seulement aux servitudes mais aussi aux facilités de la société de consommation, comporte un grave avertissement. Un hasard m’a fait relire récemment un roman d’aventures célèbre. A propos des héros du roman, on y parle – et je cite – d’«une pau­vreté noblement acceptée et vaillamment combattue». Ce sont là deux attitudes complé­mentaires nécessaires pour qui entend se garder des fausses fascinations comme des fausses résignations. La lutte contre la pauvreté commence dans le courage et la lucidité, face à la pauvreté elle-même et dans l’acceptation de ses leçons. Vous êtes nombreux dans cette salle à nous en donner l’illustration vivante par vos carrières personnelles. Nul n’avance qui ne s’assume tel qu’il est pour se transformer en ce qu’il doit être. Telle est la dure œuvre à laquelle la Conférence et l’Organisation sont attelées, mais qui met la main à la charrue et regarde en arrière n’est pas digne de l’idéal qu’il s’est choisi ; cela, nous en sommes convaincus, ne peu pas et ne sera pas le sort de l’OIT.

*Compte rendu des travaux n.16 p.394-396.

L'Osservatore Romano. Edition hebdomadaire en langue française n.41 p.11.

La Documentation Catholique  n.1567 p.683-685.

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Rev. Father de RIEDMATTEN (Observer representing the Holy See)**

Mr. President, thank you for giving me the floor, if only to give my Delegation an opportunity to congratulate you on your election to this office.

As you will have guessed, the reason why we wanted to speak in this debate was partly because we still remember that, at the invitation of this Organisation, His Holiness Pope Paul VI visited this hall last year and replied to the warm welcome given him by a speech which he made, and I quote " as an attentive observer of the work you accomplish here and a fervent admirer of the activities you carry on and also a collaborator happy to have been invited to celebrate with you the existence, the functions, the achievements and the merits of this world institution, and to do so as a friend".

These remarks were preceded by a few words of introduction by the President of the Conference, Jean Möri, and an introduction by Mr. David Morse. In paying tribute to the memory of the former, it is my duty to say also how much the activities of the outgoing Director-General were appreciated by the Holy See. One hesitates, in congratulating Mr. Jenks, to describe him as a" newcomer " when he has been identified for so many decades with the life of an institution to which he has given the best of himself.

But above and beyond these reasons of elementary courtesy, a deeper reason has prompted me to intervene in the debate on the Director-General’s Report. This is that this Report bears a title and deals with a subject which cannot fail to touch a chord in the Church and every Christian conscience – poverty. When John the Baptist, from his prison, sent his disciples to question Christ on His mission, Christ, summing up the messianic hope in a few words, concluded by saying that the poor shall receive the glad tidings.

Concerning oneself with the lot of the poor, devoting oneself wholeheartedly to bettering their condition, begrudging none of the time and effort spent on this task, forms an essential part of the life of any dedicated Christian. And it is a duty for him who considers himself as such to work with every man, every community, every organization which in this,. the noblest of human tasks, pursues similar aims.

" Poverty ", says Mr. Morse in his Report, “remains alarming and threatens to be even more alarming in the years ahead”, and he adds in the Introduction a highly opportune remark for the attention of those who are preparing for the Second Development Decade: " It is clear that, in the coming decade and beyond, it will be quite as important so to plan development that it will yield significant improvements in the standards of living of the masses of the population – in the short-term rather than in some indefinite future – as it will be to aim at ambitious global targets of economic growth”. Thus, focusing attention on the real beneficiary in human development, man, Mr. Morse, along with so many other experts, pleads in the specific terminology of the ILO for a more integral conception of development, a conception which is more qualitative, more clearly orientated towards its true purpose.

My Delegation was somewhat disconcerted to find in the footnote in the first chapter of the Report a definition of poverty identifying it, at its worst, i.e. at the level of utter privation, as a sub-human state. We were reassured upon reading the integral text of the chapter. Poverty is not reduced to an element to be measured quantitatively. It is expressly stated that the yardstick for determining poverty is constituted by the requirements imposed by the dignity of man. I shall not dwell on the implications of such an approach, most of which are explained in this chapter. I will simply state that adopting such a standard is tantamount to saying that poverty which one can and should combat is the sum of conditions which prevent an individual, a family, an entire community, from enjoying human rights and from carrying out to the full their obligations towards the community – for the latter also forms an essential part of the dignity of man.

May we refer here from a somewhat different standpoint to the remarks already made from this rostrum by the Minister of Labour, Employment and Population of France. We wish to make a distinction between two important types of poverty in modern society: that of the " marginals " and the poverty of full members of the national, regional and urban communities. We envisage the latter group as including poor people who theoretically are subject to no form of discrimination. They are poor because the system of which they form a part and to whose prosperity they contribute by their labour does not in fact enable them to enjoy the cultural, social and material welfare to which other social strata, part of the same system, have seemingly automatic access. From this standpoint, there is no so-called " developed " or " underdeveloped " society which does not have its poor. The fact remains that there is no comparison between the guarantees offered by widespread economic prosperity to highly sophisticated social systems and the precariousness of the situation and standards of living in countries where incomes are ridiculous or unfairly distributed, which constitute what is known as the Third World. It must be recognised that here the dependence of the social factor on the economic factor is primordial; the whole thing is to know which is the means and which is the end.

The situation of poor marginal groups gives rise to difficult questions which must be faced frankly. Among the numerous causes of poverty one must stress the demographic disequilibrium resulting from urbanisation, this poisoned gift of such gigantic proportions from the developed countries to the developing countries. The phenomenon is everywhere, but it gives rise to great suffering. The myth of the town, the source of a type of well-being characterised by the possibility of enjoying the fruits of modern civilisa­tion, provokes this flow into the towns of a population frustrated in its status as a rural population. Thus it becomes an urban population that is even more frustrated but which believes too much in the promises of the town to regret its past. As long as this problem is not tackled, and the reforms of structures which it entails are not undertaken, with a true political will, an abun­dant source of poverty, hardship and sub-human conditions will be maintained.

In referring to demographic disequilibrium I am aware that I am disagreeing with the Report. It seems to us highly debatable that it should state in such general terms – and I quote: “family planning remains the centrepiece of the population policies adopted in developing countries ". Admittedly there are very grave problems in the world due to demographic growth. But it is not equally true that, like certain developed countries, a number of so-called developing countries are suffering from a state of under-population which prevents them from maintaining their growth rate or simply growth because of a lack of manpower. This leads to the forming of pools of foreign manpower and the national community profits from their labour without being able to integrate them. The phenomenon of inter-continental migration in Europe, Latin America and Africa is attracting more and more attention from experts.

I would refer, by way of an example, the excellent services being carried out by my colleagues, the International Catholic Commission for Migration, in the-three continents I have just mentioned. The ILO cannot ignore the fact that the marginal state, which is a source of one of the most heartbreaking forms of poverty, is not always based on a discriminatory wage scale but on actual social discrimination. Should we in such cases seek to improve the social conditions of population transfers? Should we, as Pope John XXIII proposed, take the machinery to the men rather than take the men to the machinery? Or should we allow a nation to succumb by leaving it to drift with the tide of underpopulation ? The technical aspects of this complex problem I shall leave to you to judge. But nobody has better summed up the meaning of demographic policies than His Excellency, the President of India, when he said, the other day, in his extremely pointed speech: " While the prospect of an additional mouth to feed may be alarming, the additional two hands that are offered for work should not be lost sight of. While every effort should be made to keep the growing numbers within limits, let us not be unduly nervous about the growth of population which we shall convert into an asset through an enlightened employment policy."

Poverty has to be combated through constant dynamic action. When we say dynamic, we mean full of effort and energy, and this obviously concerns youth. The Report alludes to the dissatisfaction of youth, but has it sufficiently taken into account the creativeness of youth? Anybody who has passed his fiftieth birthday, as I have, must be ready to accept the fact that the aspirations and dynamism of youth in 1970 do not coincide either with our own aspirations or our own dynamism, or even with the aspirations and dynamism of our youth. While youth may not always have been a class or a State in the past, it is today. We must refrain from having any Utopian ideas about this. It is not up to adults to play the role of young people. but they cannot ignore them either. We must not allow them to become increasingly sceptical about us; we must not take decisions which they resent and which we do not resent. Reciprocity in understanding is not a characteristic of generations today, but with this formidable potential conscience and courage which is represented by youth, we must allow them to help the world, particularly the developing world, to get out of the mess in which it finds itself. Moral principles cannot be changed; they must not be sacrificed in order to be up to date with the rising generation. But having long been concerned with international institutions, I often wonder whether what we discuss and decide about youth, without their presence and their interest in our work, is not unrealistic.

In conclusion, a final remark: we are all agreed that poverty is the enemy of human dignity. No man can sleep easily while his brother lives in poverty alongside him. Do not be angry with me if I warn you against a too frequent tendency to confuse the condition of full human expansion with the availability of material resources. I do not want to make a dissertation on poverty voluntarily embraced, to which mankind owes its saints and its heroes. But in the light of their example we wonder whether our educational and social pro­grammes still play their part in creating the loftiest values to which man should aspire. The grave threat which hangs over the wealthy countries – precisely due to the fact of the youth I referred to just now, tired of utility and ready to embark upon any fault or excess to escape from the facilities and servitude of a consumer society –, should be a grave warning to us.

By chance, I recently reread a famous adventure novel, the hero of which refers to a nobly accepted and valiantly combated poverty. These are two complementary attitudes necessary if we are to refrain from being fascinated by false ideas. The struggle against poverty begins with courage and lucidity in the face of poverty itself, and the readiness to accept its lessons. Many among you here are in a position to provide a living illustration by your own career. Nobody can advance without changing from what he considers himself to be. This is the hard task to which the Conference and the Organisation must be devoted, but he who hesitates is lost, and will not be able to live up to the ideal he has chosen. We are convinced that that will not be the lot of the ILO.

**Record of Proceedings 1970, n°6, p.360-362.


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INTERVENTO DELLA SANTA SEDE
ALLA 54ma CONFERENZA INTERNAZIONALE DEL LAVORO (OIT)

INTERVENTO DI MONS. P. HENRI DE RIEDMATTEN*

 Mercoledì, 17 giugno 1970

Quando Giovanni Battista invia i suoi seguaci ad interrogare il Cristo sulla sua missione, il Cristo, raccogliendo la speranza messianica in alcuni segni, ne riassume l’enumerazione col più tipico fra questi e risponde: "i poveri ricevono la buona novella".

Preoccuparsi della sorte dei poveri, spendersi per migliorare la loro condizione, non misurare in tale opera né tempo né sacrifici, è uno tra i momenti essenziali d’ogni vita che vuol essere fedele al Vangelo. Ed è un dovere per chi si riconosce seguace di tutto questo, lavorare con ogni uomo, ogni collettività, ogni organizzazione che nello sforzo umano più nobile persegue scopi simili.

Il Direttore uscente ha accennato alla preparazione del II° decennio per lo sviluppo, e ha raccomandato di pianificare lo sviluppo stesso in maniera da spingere ad un miglioramento notevole del livello di vita delle masse a breve scadenza e non già in un avvenire imprecisato. Designando in tal modo l’obiettivo autentico dello sviluppo, l’uomo. Una definizione contenuta nella prima parte della relazione identificherebbe la povertà con l’ultimo gradino della miseria. Più oltre però si riconduce la povertà ad un elemento quantificabile: viene detto espressamente che il campione tipo per stabilire se vi è povertà è dato dalle esigenze poste dalla dignità dell’uomo. Senza dilungarmi sulle conseguenze di tale nozione direi che scegliere una simile norma equivarrebbe a dire che la povertà che si vuole e si deve combattere è la somma delle condizioni che impediscono ad un individuo, ad una famiglia, ad una comunità, o ad una intera etnia di fruire del diritti dell’uomo, ed analogamente di esercitare pienamente i suoi doveri nella Comunità, giacché l’esercizio di tali doveri è anch’esso una parte essenziale della complessiva dignità dell’uomo.

Consentite ch’io riprenda – da un diverso punto di vista – le nozioni esposte dal Ministro del Lavoro, dell’Impiego e della Popolazione della Francia. Distingueremo due grandi tipi di povertà nelle società moderne, sia sviluppate che in via di sviluppo: quella degli emarginati e quella dei membri pienamente inseriti nella comunità. In quest’ultima nozione noi ci riferiamo ai poveri che, teoricamente, non sono vittime di alcuna discriminazione, ma sono poveri perché il sistema in cui sono integrati, e alla prosperità del quale contribuiscono, non permette loro di godere del benessere a cui altri strati sociali, parti dello stesso sistema, accedono facilmente. Da questo punto di vista, non vi è nessuna società sviluppata o sotto sviluppata che non abbia i suoi poveri. Resta che non v’è confronto tra le garanzie che una grande prosperità economica conferisce a sistemi sociali assai elaborati, e la precarietà di situazioni e livelli di vita nei Paesi con reddito irrisorio o iniquamente ripartito, che costituiscono ciò che si definisce “terzo mondo”. Occorre riconoscere che qui la dipendenza del sociale dall'economico è evidente; il più è di sapere ciò che è il giusto livello intermedio a questo fine.

La situazione dei poveri marginali pone questioni difficili che bisogna affrontare con franchezza. Fra tante altre cause, vorremmo sottolineare lo squilibrio democratico e le proporzioni gigantesche dell’urbanizzazione, dono avvelenato quest’ultimo che la cultura moderna ha fatto ai Paesi in via di sviluppo. Il mito della Città, fonte d’un benessere caratterizzato dal godimento delle conquiste della civiltà moderna, provoca l’afflusso d’una popolazione rurale frustata. Ora questa diviene spesso una popolazione urbana ancora più frustrata. Sin quando, con una decisa volontà politica, non si sarà risolto questo problema con le riforme di struttura che esso richiede, si lascerà sussistere una causa importante di povertà, di miseria e di condizioni infra-umane.

Il discorso è continuato su un altro punto importante.

Parlando dello squilibrio demografico, sembra a noi contestabile l’affermazione del Rapporto: “La pianificazione familiare resta il cardine della politica demografica dei Paesi in via di sviluppo”. Vi sono certamente nel mondo gravi problemi dovuti alla crescita demografica. Ma non si constata pure che, analogamente a quanto avviene in alcuni Paesi sviluppati, altri Paesi detti in via di sviluppo non possono mantenere un adeguato ritmo di crescita proprio per mancanza di braccia?

In tali condizioni si deve ricorrere alla mano d’opera straniera, il che finisce per costituire veri gruppi erratici fra comunità nazionali che profittano che usufruiscono del loro lavoro senza poterli integrare. Il fenomeno delle migrazioni intercontinentali in Europa, in America Latina e in Africa attrae sempre più l’attenzione degli specialisti.

Si deve cercare di migliorare le condizioni sociali dei migranti? Oppure, secondo la suggestione di Giovanni XXIII, trasportare le macchine nei luoghi dove sono gli uomini piuttosto che trasportare gli uomini laddove sono le macchine?

Gli aspetti tecnici sono lasciati alla vostra sagacità. Ma il senso delle politiche demografiche è stato sintetizzato da S. E. il Presidente dell’India che ha detto: "Certamente, la prospettiva d’una bocca in più da sfamare può essere allarmante, ma non vanno dimenticate le due mani supplementari che si offrono per lavorare".

La povertà si combatte con una azione dinamica costante: intendendo per dinamica pienezza di sforzo, d’energia e di vita, mirante direttamente la gioventù.

Bisogna chiedersi se del formidabile potenziale della gioventù ci si è preoccupati per aiutare il mondo in via di sviluppo ad uscire dal marasma. Senza dubbio, i principi morali sono immutabili: non si deve sacrificarli per essere moderni.

Terminando, permettete un’osservazione. Siamo tutti d’accordo, la povertà é un nemico della dignità umana; nessun uomo può dormire quando presso di lui, il suo fratello vive povero. Non vogliatemene se metto in guardia contro la comune tendenza di confondere la condizione del pieno fiorire umano, con la disponibilità di risorse materiali che elimini ogni inquietudine. Non parlerò della povertà volontariamente abbracciata, e alla quale l’umanità deve tanto a santi ed eroi. Ma alla luce dei loro esempi, ci si chiede se i programmi educativi e sociali facciano ancora posto alla esigenza d’austerità e di rigore che privilegia la ricerca dei più alti valori, che costruiscono l’uomo.

La grande minaccia che incombe sui Paesi dell’opulenza materiale, riferendoci specialmente alla gioventù di cui parlavo dianzi, stanca del benessere, pronta ad ogni follia per sfuggire non solo alle schiavitù, ma anche alle mollezze della società dei consumi, comporta un grave avvertimento. Recentemente ho riletto per caso un romanzo celebre. A proposito degli eroi del romanzo si parla di “una povertà nobilmente accettata e validamente combattuta”. Sono questi i due atteggiamenti complementari necessari per chi intende guadarsi dai falsi miraggi, come dalle false rassegnazioni. La lotta contro la povertà comincia con il coraggio e la lucidità, di fronte alla stessa povertà e accettando le sue lezioni. Voi siete numerosi in questa aula a darci dimostrazione vivente di questo con le vostre carriere personali. Nessuno progredisce senza partire da come egli è per giungere ad essere ciò che deve essere. Questa è l’ardua opera alla quale la Conferenza e l’Organizzazione sono impegnate, ma chi mette la mano all’aratro e guarda alle spalle non è degno dell’ideale che si è scelto. Ciò, siamo convinti non può essere e non sarà la sorte dell’OIL.

***L'Osservatore Romano 17.9.1970 p.3.