Cardinal  Felipe Arizmendi, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and responsible for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), offers Exaudi readers his weekly article.

FACTS

When I met the local leader of the armed group that, along with two others, controls and extorts everyone in our region, he was carrying a handgun on his belt, and I asked him why. He simply replied that it was his custom. I told him that he should be valued for who he is, for who he is as a person, not for his pistol. The reality is that without the long guns he and his group carry, they wouldn’t be able to impose their will on the entire community. Nor would they obtain the money they get from extortion, since farmers and merchants pay the fees they demand because their weapons give them the power to enrich themselves. And that money allows them to buy more weapons. I hope the day is soon when the federal authorities do what they must, because everyone knows these leaders and knows where they live and how they operate. It certainly seems that they have decided to abandon that nefarious policy of  coddling  them, but the power of organized crime is enormous.

Donald Trump, because his country is very rich and has enormous military power, feels entitled to intervene in other countries and impose his laws and tariffs. With his economic and military might, he wants to control everything. Isn’t there anyone in the USA to keep him in check? Our country has to comply with many of his demands, because otherwise he imposes more tariffs and our economy suffers. Although they talk about cooperation here, in reality, it all seems like submission.

The same thing happens at other levels. There are parents who buy their children’s affection and respect with money. Child and female abusers buy their victims’ silence with money and death threats. Battered wives endure everything so their husbands don’t leave them destitute. Money and weapons prevail, as if truth and justice could be bought. Even government support for the elderly, which is an act of justice, can be used to buy votes. Money can corrupt.

ILLUMINATION

Pope Francis, in his exhortation  Evangelii gaudium,  warns:

“We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf has found a new and ruthless version in the fetishism of money and in the dictatorship of an economy without a face and without a truly human purpose”  (55).  “A new invisible, sometimes virtual, tyranny is established, which unilaterally and implacably imposes its laws and rules. The desire for power and possessions knows no limits”  (56).

“ Behind this attitude lies the rejection of ethics and the rejection of God. Ethics is often regarded with a certain mocking contempt. It is considered counterproductive, too human, because it relativizes money and power. It is felt as a threat, since it condemns the manipulation and degradation of the person. Ethics—a non-ideologized ethics—allows for the creation of a more humane balance and social order”  (57).

“A financial reform that does not ignore ethics would require a vigorous change of attitude on the part of political leaders, whom I urge to face this challenge with determination and a vision for the future. Money must serve and not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor, but he has the obligation, in the name of Christ, to remind everyone that the rich must help the poor, respect them, and promote them. I urge you to selfless solidarity and a return of economics and finance to an ethic in favor of the human being”  (58).

ACTIONS

Let us give money the importance it deserves, but no more. Let money not dominate us and empower us to impose our will on others; let it not be used to buy or control our children or spouse. Let our worth not depend on weapons and money, nor on threats, but on the love and respect we give to others