There is, in short, "an integral vision of the human" as opposed to the "culture of waste", a society of efficiency at all costs, which tends to violate human dignity, " irrepressible, non-disposable for any power or ideology. "
This was Pope Francis' message this morning to a delegation from the Dignitatis humanae Institute led by Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino .
"Unfortunately - he observed - in our time, so full of so many hopes and achievements , there are powers and forces that end up producing a culture of waste , and this tends to become the common mentality . The weakest and most fragile are real victims of this culture - the unborn, the poor , the elderly, the sick, severely disabled ... - who are likely to be " discarded ", expelled by a system that must be efficient at all costs . This fake model of man and society implements a practical atheism by denying the fact of the Word of God that says: ' Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ' ( cfrGen 1:26) . "
"Instead , if we let ourselves be questioned by this Word , if we allow it appeal to our personal and social awareness, if we let it question our ways of thinking and acting, policies , priorities and choices , then things may change. The force of this word sets limits to anyone who wants to become hegemonic, abusing the rights and dignity of others. At the same time , it gives hope and comfort to those who can not defend themselves , who have no intellectual and practical means to affirm the value of their suffering , their rights, their lives. "