Dear brothers and sisters,

This is the first time that I have the joy to meet you, continuing on the path opened up by Pope Francis who, in these years, often dialogued with your reality, shining light on its prophetic importance in the context of a world characterized by various kinds of problems.

One of the reasons I chose the name “Leo XIV” is the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, written by Leo XIII during the industrial revolution.  The title Rerum Novarum means “new things.”  There are certainly “new things” in the world but, when we say this, we generally adopt a “view from the center” and refer to things like artificial intelligence or robotics.  However, today I would like to look at the “new things” with you, taking a view from the periphery.

Seeing the “new things” from the periphery

More than ten years ago, here in the Vatican, Pope Francis said that you were here to plant a flag.  What was written on it?  “Land, housing and work.” [1]  “ Tierra, techo, trabajo,” as Guadalupe mentioned a few minutes ago.  This was a “new thing” for the Church, and it was a good thing!  Echoing Francis’ words, I say today: land, housing and work are sacred rights.  It is worthwhile to fight for them, and I would like you to hear me say, “I am here,” “I am with you!”

Is asking for land, housing and work for the excluded a “new thing?”  As far as the centers of world power are concerned, certainly not. Someone with financial security and a comfortable house can consider these demands as already met in one way or another.  Truly “new” things would be autonomous vehicles, clothing and items of the latest fashion, high-end cell phones, cryptocurrencies and other such things.

From the peripheries, however, things appear differently.  The banner that you unfurl is so relevant that it merits an entire chapter in Christian social thought on the excluded in today’s world.

This is the viewpoint that I want to convey: the new things seen from the periphery, and the fact that in your efforts you do not limit yourselves to protesting, but also look for solutions.  The peripheries often call for justice, and you cry out, not out of desperation but out of desire.  Yours is a cry to find solutions in a society dominated by unjust systems.  And you do this, not with microprocessors or biotechnologies but, at a more elementary level, with the beauty of artistry.  This is poetry: you are “social poets.” [2]

Today you bring the banner of land, housing and work once again, walking together from a social center — Spin Time — to the Vatican. Walking together testifies to the vitality of the popular movements as builders of solidarity in diversity.  The Church must be with you: a poor Church for the poor, a Church that reaches out, a Church that takes risks, a Church that is courageous, prophetic and joyful!

What I consider most important is that your service be animated by love.  I know of similar realities and experiences present in other countries, true community spaces full of faith, hope and especially love, which remains the greatest virtue of all (cf. 1 Cor 13:13).  In fact, when cooperatives and projects are formed to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, rescue the shipwrecked, provide daycare, create jobs, access land and build houses, remember that we are not serving an ideology but truly living the Gospel.

At the heart of the Gospel, in fact, is the commandment of love, and Jesus told us that, in the faces and injuries of the poor, is hidden his own face (cf. Matt 25:34-40).  It is beautiful to see that the popular movements, even before the requirement of justice, are moved by the desire of love, against any individualism and prejudice.

As a Bishop in Peru, I am happy to have experienced a Church that accompanies people in their sorrows, in their joys, in their struggles and in their hopes.  This is an antidote to the spreading structural indifference that does not take seriously the drama of people who are stripped, robbed, sacked and reduced to poverty.  We often feel powerless before all of this.  Yet we must begin to counter what I have called the “globalization of powerlessness” with a “culture of reconciliation” [3] and commitment.  The popular movements fill this gap, generated by the lack of love, with the great miracle of solidarity, founded on the care of neighbor and on reconciliation.

As I was saying, the normal discourse on “new things” — with their potentials and their dangers — omits what is happening on the periphery. At the center, there is little awareness of the problems that strike the excluded.  In discussions of politics and economics, one has the impression that this is “a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treated merely as collateral damage. Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile.” [4]  The poor, on the contrary, are at the center of the Gospel.  Therefore, marginalized communities, therefore, must be involved in a collective and united effort aimed at reversing the dehumanizing trend of social injustices and promoting integral human development.

In fact, “as long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.” [5]

Old injustices in the new world

Your effort is ever more necessary in a world that, as we know, is ever more globalized; as Benedict XVI affirmed “the processes of globalization, suitably understood and directed, open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale; if badly directed, however, they can lead to an increase in poverty and inequality, and could even trigger a global crisis.” [6]

This means that the dynamisms of progress should always be managed through an ethic of responsibility, overcoming the risk of idolizing profit and always putting the human person and one’s integral development at the center.  The “human” is at the heart of Saint Augustine’s vision of an ethic of responsibility.  He teaches how responsibility, especially in dealing with the poor and with those who have material needs, is born from human persons with their own similar needs and, therefore, from the recognition of our “common humanity.” [7]

Since we all share in the same humanity, we should ensure that “what’s new” be managed in an appropriate way.  The question should not remain only in the hands of the political, scientific or academic elites, but rather should involve all of us.  The creativity that God has given human beings and that has generated considerable progress in many realms, has not yet succeeded in addressing the challenges of poverty and so reversing the course that continues dramatically excluding millions of people who remain on the margins.  This is a central point in the debate on “new things.”

When my predecessor Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum at the end of the 19 ^th century, he did not concentrate on industrial technology or on new sources of energy, but rather on the situation of workers.  Here resides the evangelical power of his message: his attention was turned most of all to the situation of the poor and the oppressed of that time.  For the first time and with absolute clarity, a Pope said that the daily struggle for survival and for social justice were of fundamental importance for the Church.   Leo XIII denounced the submission of the majority to the power “of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.” [8]  This was the great inequality of the epoch.

In Leo XIII’s Encyclical, we do not find the words “unemployment” or “exclusion” because, at the time, the problems concerned rather the improvement of workers’ conditions, exploitation, the urgency of a new social harmony and a new political balance, objectives that were gradually achieved thanks to many labor laws and social security institutions.  Today, however, exclusion is the new face of social injustice.  The gap between a “small minority” — 1% of the population — and the overwhelming majority has widened dramatically.

Such exclusion is a “new thing” that Pope Francis denounced as the “throwaway culture” affirming vehemently: “The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ‘leftovers.’” [9]

When we speak of exclusion, we are also faced with a paradox.  The lack of land, food, housing and dignified work coexists with access to new technologies that have spread everywhere through the globalized markets.  Cell phones, social networks and even artificial intelligence are in the pockets of millions of persons, including the poor.  Still, while ever more people have access to the internet, primary needs remain unmet. Let us ensure that, when these more sophisticated needs are met, fundamental needs are not neglected.

Such systemic arbitrariness results in people being deprived of what they need and submerged in what is superfluous.  In brief, poor management generates and increases inequalities under the pretext of progress.  And by not placing human dignity at the center, the system fails also in justice.

The impact of “new things” on the excluded

Today I am not going to describe in detail what these “new things” are that have been produced in particular by the centers of technical development.  But we know that they have an impact on all the principle areas of social life: health, schooling, work, transportation, urbanization, communication, security, defense, etc.  Many of these impacts are ambivalent, in that they are positive for some countries and sectors, while others suffer “collateral damage.”  Once again, this is the result of the “poor management” of technological progress.

The climate crisis is perhaps the clearest example.  We see it in every extreme meteorological event, whether floods, drought, tsunamis or earthquakes.  Who suffers the most?  Always the poorest.  They lose what little they have when the water sweeps away their houses, and they are often forced to abandon them without having a suitable alternative to restart their lives.  The same thing happens when, for example, peasants, farmers and indigenous populations lose their lands, their cultural identity and their sustainable local production because of the desertification of their territory.

Another aspect of the “new things” that strikes particularly the marginalized has to do with the yearning and the hopes of the poorest concerning the lifestyles that are constantly promoted today.  For example, how can a poor young person live with hope and without anxiety when social media constantly exalts an unbridled consumerism and a totally unrealizable level of economic success?

Another problem not often recognized is represented by addiction to digital gambling.  The platforms are designed to create compulsive addiction and generate addictive habits that create addiction.

I do not want to remain silent on the pharmaceutical industry as a “new thing” which certainly represents great progress for some but not without ambiguity.  In the current culture, aided by advertising and publicity, a cult of physical wellbeing is being promoted, almost an idolatry of the body and, in this vision, the mystery of pain is reduced to something totally inhuman.  This can lead to dependence on pain medications, the sale of which obviously goes to increasing the profits of the same pharmaceutical companies.  This also leads to dependence on opioids, as has been devastating particularly in the United States.  For example, fentanyl, the drug of death, is the second most common cause of death among the poor in that country.  The spread of increasingly lethal synthetic drugs is not only a crime involving trafficking of drugs, but really has to do with the production of pharmaceuticals and their profit, which lack a global ethic.

I would also like to emphasize that the development of new technologies of information and telecommunication depends on minerals that are often found in the subsoil of poor countries.  Without coltan from the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, many of the technological devices we use today would not exist.  Still, its extraction depends on paramilitary violence, child labor and the displacement of populations.  Lithium is another example: competition among the great powers and the large corporations for its extraction represents a grave menace to the sovereignty and the stability of poor states, to the point that some contractors and politicians boast of promoting coups and other forms of political destabilization, in order to get their hands on the “white gold” of lithium.

Finally, I would like to mention the issue of security.  States have the right and the duty to protect their borders, but this should be balanced by the moral obligation to provide refuge.  With the abuse of vulnerable migrants, we are witnessing, not the legitimate exercise of national sovereignty, but rather grave crimes committed or tolerated by the state.  Ever more inhumane measures are being adopted — even celebrated politically — that treat these “undesirables” as if they were garbage and not human beings.  Christianity, on the other hand, refers to the God who is love, who creates us and calls us to live as brothers and sisters.

At the same time, I am encouraged to see how popular movements, organizations of civil society and the Church are addressing these new forms of dehumanization, constantly testifying that whoever is in need is our neighbor, our brother and our sister.  This makes you champions of humanity, witnesses to justice, poets of solidarity.

The just struggle of popular movements

In Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII observed that “the ancient workingmen's guilds were abolished in the last century, and no other protective organization took their place.” [10]  The poor had become more vulnerable and less protected.  Something similar is happening today, because the unions typical of the 20 ^th century represent an ever-smaller percentage of workers and, in many countries, the social safety-nets are in crisis.  Neither the unions nor the employers’ associations, neither states nor international organizations, seem capable of addressing these problems.  But “a state without justice is not a state,” as Saint Augustine reminds us. [11]  Justice requires that the institutions of each state be at the service of every social class and of all residents, harmonizing the diverse interests and demands.

Once again, we find ourselves facing an ethical void into which evil easily enters. I am reminded of a parable, the parable of the unclean spirit which is cast out but then returns to find its former dwelling clean and tidy, and then organizes an even worse aggression (Mt 12, 43-35).  In this orderly void, the evil spirit is free to act.  The social institutions of the past were not perfect, but discarding a large proportion of them and adorning what remains with ineffectual laws and unimplemented agreements, the system leaves people more vulnerable than before.

Therefore, popular movements, along with persons of good will, Christians, believers and governments are called with urgency to fill this void, establishing processes of justice and solidarity that spread throughout society, because, as I have already affirmed, “illusions distract us; preparations guide us.  Illusions seek a result; preparations make an encounter possible.” [12]

In the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, I recall that “various popular movements made up of lay people and led by popular leaders, […] have often been viewed with suspicion and even persecuted.” [13]  Still, your struggles under the banner of land, housing and efforts for a better world deserve encouragement.  And as the Church accompanied the formation of union leaders in the past, today we ought to accompany the popular movements.  This means accompanying humanity, walking together in shared respect for human dignity and in the common desire for justice, love and peace.

The Church supports your just struggles for land, housing and work.  Like my predecessor Francis, I believe that just ways begin from the ground up, from the periphery toward the center.  Your many and creative initiatives can become new public policies and social rights.  Yours is a legitimate and necessary effort.  May the seeds of love, which you sow, tiny as mustard seeds (cf. Mt 13:31-21, Mk 4:30-21, Lk 13:18-19), grow into a world that is more human for everyone and help to manage the “new things” better.

The Church and I want to be close to you on this journey.  Let us continue to raise our prayers to Almighty God.  Joining with you in prayer, we implore the Father of all mercy to protect you and fill you with his inexhaustible love.  In his infinite goodness, may God give you the prophetic courage of the Gospel, perseverance in the struggle, hope in your hearts and poetic creativity.  I entrust you to the maternal guidance of Mary Most Holy. And from the depths of my heart, I bless you.

         Thank you, thank you all! Keep going on the way, with joy and with hope!

(In Spanish: Thank you. Let us pray together as Jesus taught us. Our Father…)

 

        

 

 

 

 

[1] “ Tierra, techo, trabajo”, the three “T”s in Spanish.

[2] Francis, Video Message on the Occasion of the Fourth World Meeting of Popular Movements, 16 October 2021.

[3] Leo XIV, Video Message on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Candidacy of the Project “Gestures of Welcome” to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, 12 September 2025.

[4] Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (24 May 2015), 49.

[5] Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 202.

[6] Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, (29 June 2009), 42.

[7][7] Cf. Saint Augustine, Discourse 259,3.

[8] Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum (15 May 1891), 3.

[9] Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 53.

[10] Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum, 3.

[11] Saint Augustine, De civitate Dei, XIX, 21,1.

[12] Leo XIV, General Audience, 6 August 2025.

[13] Leo XIV, Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te (4 October 2025), 80.