Poverty, climate emergency, and peace

Dear friends,

During the month of November, the Church celebrated the Sixth World Day of the Poor. With the theme "For your sakes Christ became poor", the Pope intends to provoke a reflection on our lifestyle and the poverty of the present time. "Poverty enriches" is the paradox that preaches the life of Jesus. True richness is in the mutual love that makes us bear our shared burdens so that no one is excluded or abandoned. We are not in this world to survive, but so that all people may enjoy a dignified and happy existence.

Climate change is an increasingly powerful driver of forced migration. Physical alterations are expected to have a major impact on human and community security as a whole, especially the most "vulnerable" in the Global South. Climate change will influence the precipitation of armed conflicts in vulnerable territories, with weapons most likely to be purchased in the countries most responsible for the climate emergency, generating a wheel of violence with responsibilities towards those in the Global North.

From October 7th to 10th, the annual Seminar of the European Justice and Peace Commissions was held in Assisi, with the theme "Peace, internal ecology and sinodality". The choice could not have been more appropriate: the city that was the cradle and stage of the reaching of St. Francis, the "Poverello, the passionate singer of the beauty of creation as a gift of creation and reflection of God´s love, the humble apostle of the care of the poor and the needy.

Spain Second Human Rights Plan is still pending, after seven years and three elections, from the second Universal Periodic Report (UPR) to our country. The draft is expected to be approved before the end of the current legislature, after several public consultation processes and input from other expert bodies.

On the back cover, we summarize some activities in which the General Commission has been involved in recent months. Among them we highlighted the work and common projects of the Church for Decent Work, with the participation in the World Day for Decent Work on October 7th, Weaving Networks against Trafficking, following the challenges and difficulties of this scourge in the European Day against Trafficking in Human Beings. We recall the campaign that this organization has launched to express the support of the Catholic Church for the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, as well as the annual day on ecological spirituality to learn to live differently, which was held in Manresa.

In this year of War in Europe, we wish for the deep peace that fills every life with meaning. Merry Christmas!

Isabel Cuenca Anaya
Secretary-general
Spanish Commission for Justice and Peace

Download and read Newsletter #58: