Man Needs God to Become a Family, Says Cardinal
Nov 22, 2007
Justice and Peace Council Begins Plenary Assembly.
ROME, NOV. 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Mankind needs God in order to discover its vocation to be a united human family, said the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the inauguration of the dicastery's plenary assembly.
The council opened its assembly Tuesday, dedicated to the study of Pope Paul VI's encyclical "Populorum Progressio" 40 years after the document was written.
Cardinal Renato Martino opened the assembly, saying, “There is not true development without vocation and there is no vocation without God."
The dicastery president emphasized the current importance of Paul VI's encyclical, given the challenges regarding the truth of man, dialogue and globalization.
In this sense, he highlighted "Populorum Progressio's" vision of integral development and the call to all men of good will to face and resolve the plague of hunger.
3 tasks
According to Cardinal Martino, the papal document outlines the three-fold task faced by the pontifical council.
First, he mentioned the need to promote “a humanism open to the Absolute,” because, without God, it is difficult for all of humanity to discover its vocation of being one united family.
Second, the cardinal called for “new thinking about human action,” which overcomes the technical preeminence of doing over receiving and of producing over welcoming.
Finally, Cardinal Martino promoted a “brotherhood among men,” in order to free development from a reductive, materialistic interpretation.
The cardinal cited the encyclical, saying development is not “something optional, but a duty to assume.” The encyclical is “the invitation to assume responsibility for the vocation proper to mankind, according to the plan of God," he said.
“Without God,” concluded the cardinal, “it is difficult for men to read in his own nature a vocation; without God, people require much effort to detect a vocation in their history and in their culture; without God, all of humanity finds it difficult to discover the vocation of being one united family.”
Man Needs God to Become a Family, Says Cardinal