Papal Preacher - Lazarus and the First World.
Fr. Cantalamessa, preacher to the Papal household, says, “The principal thing to bring to light in regard to the parable of the rich man in this Sunday’s Gospel is his contemporary relevance. At the global level the two characters are the two hemispheres: The rich man represents the northern hemisphere (western Europe, America, Japan) and the poor man, Lazarus, with a few exceptions, represents the southern hemisphere. â€
Tags: Poverty Analysis
Pope Benedict XVI struck a similar chord in his Angelus address today. The rich man in the Gospel, he said, “embodies the unjust spending of wealth by those who use it for unbridled and egotistical luxury, thinking only of satisfying themselves, without taking care of the beggar at their door.” He went on to say that the parable “lends itself to a social interpretation….How can we not think, especially in this moment, of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, stricken with serious flooding over these last few days? But we cannot forget many other situations of humanitarian emergency in various regions of the planet, in which battles for political power lead to the worsening of environmental problems already weighing on the people. The appeal Paul VI gave voice to back then: “The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance†(“Populorum Progressio,” No. 3), has the same urgency today. We cannot say that we do not know the road to take.”1 Comment
Pope Benedict XVI struck a similar chord in his Angelus address today. The rich man in the Gospel, he said, “embodies the unjust spending of wealth by those who use it for unbridled and egotistical luxury, thinking only of satisfying themselves, without taking care of the beggar at their door.” He went on to say that the parable “lends itself to a social interpretation….How can we not think, especially in this moment, of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, stricken with serious flooding over these last few days? But we cannot forget many other situations of humanitarian emergency in various regions of the planet, in which battles for political power lead to the worsening of environmental problems already weighing on the people. The appeal Paul VI gave voice to back then: “The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance†(“Populorum Progressio,” No. 3), has the same urgency today. We cannot say that we do not know the road to take.”