Ich am neither a Catholic nor a big Fan of events with red carpets. And still, I am pleased to be here. Because to me this Pope has touched, from the beginning, deeply: with its simple “buona sera”, with its visible rejection of pomp and posturing, with the trip to the island of Lampedusa after his election, long before the issue of refugees dominated the headlines.
Pope Francis makes it clear to us in no uncertain terms, that the Christian roots of Europe are not Folklore, but to claim to ourselves: Every life is worthy of respect. Every child, every woman, every man Would be a taboo.
Each person is unique and has a story that is a thousand times more complex than anything what we mean, because of its origin, or Religion to know about him. This is the Foundation of Europe.
Pope Francis shows us cheerful his people love
Pope Francis holds up a mirror to us, what it can mean to be a Christian. What it can mean to be human. He washes Muslim asylum seekers on Maundy Thursday the feet. He eats Breakfast on his birthday with the homeless.
He refugees referred to as a “gift”. The Pope shows us his love of people with such ease and cheerfulness, and so completely without fear that it is almost a provocation.
Because, of course, are the political questions with us about the refugee crisis faced anything other than easy. They are damn difficult. And the uncompromising love of Francis was so moved, not to the policy: policy must make compromises, even painful.
Therefore, disagreements about the proper refugee policy are normal. We need to argue. And, of course, we must struggle to answer, to help where the limits of our ability.
The Dignity of man is inviolable>
However, this consensus is fragile. If people want to do Good, to be mocked as “do-gooders”, when it again will be accepted to prove the love to our country by hatred to Strangers, and if that hatred is being sold to us as political courage, then we let the fear of the deformed, what makes us, as Europeans, as human beings.
Ex-Federal President Horst Köhler at the age of 68. Award ceremony of the media prize Bambi in Berlin
source: Reuters
we must, Therefore, be this Pope to be grateful: Because, every day, a sign of humanity, to wrest Christianity from the clutches of those who push their dirty political business.
Because he is calling to the populist charlatans: no, this evening the country, and no belongs to you, this Christianity can’t be capers for a new war of religions, and no, Christian values can’t be defended, that occurs with the feet.
Pope Francis ‘ the creeping against brutalization of political culture, the vulnerability of an open heart. He countered the scorn of the Good do with the shameless nostalgia for a world trusted.
solutions to the refugee crisis is not in the Hand of God
But the Pope is naive. Angrily, he puts his Finger in the wound of global injustice. Francis reminds us that since the end of the Second world war, the largest refugee movement is not a biblical plague. It is the result of man-made wars, man-made poverty and the human-made climate change.
And thus the solutions lie not in God but in the human Hand. Let us, therefore, of this Pope provoke. We can provoke us to see the refugees as a Messenger of a new age of mutual dependence.
Whether it suits us or not: The humanity sitting in a boat. We will be able to preserve our prosperity and our security in the long term only if all of the people on this earth can live in Dignity, and within the ecological limits of the planet.
No dreaming – this is real Realpolitik
And I am deeply convinced that this is also possible. It is possible, if we take climate protection seriously, even if it hurts. It is possible, if we give the gigantic sums of money that are wrong in the world around, sense with investments where there is a lack of everything.
It is possible, if we dare to take a decisive restart, especially in the cooperation with Africa, the African youth finally finds work and income and prospects.
all of This is no dream, but a real Realpolitik in this networked 21st century. Century. We can at least anyone tell you that the world is as it is and the only solution is to have us be immured.
Pope Francis provokes all of us to find a way to a just world. And I have no doubt that If we do it without fear, with Franciscan joy and calm, even a pinch of anger, then we will succeed.
The author was from 2004 to 2010, Federal President of Germany, previously the managing Director of the International monetary Fund (IMF). The Text is based on his speech to Pope Francis on the occasion of the awarding of the “Millennium Bambi” at the head of the Catholic Church on the 17. November in Berlin.
No comments:
Post a Comment