POPE FRANCIS TO FILIPINOS
AND THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES:
DAILY PERSONAL CONVERSION AND EFFORT TO FIGHT INJUSTICE AND INEQUALITY!
Dear brethren in Christ, especially to my Filipino countrymen: Below you have a reminder from our beloved Pope Francis on the loving demands of the Gospel of Our Lord, INVITING US TO DAILY CONVERSION TO LIVE “LIVES OF HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND CONCERN FOR THE COMMON GOOD” IN CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST’S LIFE.
As members of the one and only True Church of Christ, we must individually bear the weight of the Church’s social task in conformity with the teachings of Christ, TO FIGHT INJUSTICE AND INEQUALITY AND PUT REMEDIES WITHIN OUR REACH IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION OF THOSE WHO SUFFER.
“The Gospel is also A SUMMONS TO CONVERSION, TO AN EXAMINATION OF OUR CONSCIENCES, AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A PEOPLE. As the Bishops of the Philippines have rightly taught, THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES IS CALLED TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND COMBAT THE CAUSES OF THE DEEPLY ROOTED INEQUALITY AND INJUSTICE WHICH MAR THE FACE OF FILIPINO SOCIETY, PLAINLY CONTRADICTING THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. THE GOSPEL CALLS INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIANS TO LIVE LIVES OF HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND CONCERN FOR THE COMMON GOOD. But it also calls Christian communities to create “circles of integrity,” networks of solidarity which can expand to embrace and transform society by their prophetic witness. The poor…The poor are at the center of the Gospel, are at the heart of the Gospel. If we take away the poor from the Gospel, we cannot understand the whole message of Jesus Christ.”
Pope Francis, Homily at the Manila Cathedral, January 16, 2015.