Monday, July 13, 2015

Pope: Corruption, Blackmail Destroy Common Good

From Pope Francis, speaking during his current trip to Paraguay:

“Before ending, I'd like to make reference to two things”, he continued. “In doing this, as there are political authorities present here, I wish to say this fraternally. Someone told me: 'Look, Mr so-and-so was kidnapped by the Army, please do something to help! I do not know if this is true, or if it is not true, if it is right, or if it is not right, but one of the methods used by dictatorial ideologies of the last century, which I referred to earlier, was to separate the people, either by exile or imprisonment, or in the case of concentration camps, Nazis and Stalinists excluded them by death. For there to be a true culture of the people, a political culture, a culture of the common good, there must be quick and clear judicial proceedings. No other kind of strategy is required. Clear, concise judgements. That would help all of us. … And there is a second thing I would like to say: one method which does not bestow freedom upon people, and enable them to work responsibly towards the construction of society, is the method of blackmail. Blackmail is always corruption: 'If you do this, we will do this to you, and thus destroy you'. Corruption is the parasite, the gangrene of the people. For example, no politician can work and carry out a function, if they are being blackmailed by methods of corruption. … This happens in all populations around the world, and if a society wishes to maintain its dignity, it must banish such blackmail. I am speaking about something universal”.

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