Friday, March 5, 2021

Archfather Speaks About Violence Against Asians in Europe and America

FIRENZE-NUOVA ROMA 5 March 2021 (NRom)

Sua Santità ed Eminenza l'Arcipadre ha fatto la seguente dichiarazione riguardo agli attacchi in corso contro i popoli asiatici in Europa e in America. 

His Holiness and Eminence the Archfather made the following statement regarding ongoing attacks against Asian people in Europe and America. 

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Carissimi, è con grande tristezza che Noi denunciamo i continui attacchi contro gli asiatici in tutto il mondo, che sono cresciuti di intensità nel corso del 2020 e continuano ancora oggi. Il razzismo in generale, non solo contro gli asiatici, è un problema globale di lunga data. La pandemia di COVID-19, considerand le apparenti origini geografiche del virus, ha purtroppo stimolato un drammatico aumento degli attacchi agli asiatici. Tali attacchi si verificano sia in Europa che nelle Americhe. La popolazione asiatica è stata brutalmente aggredita e persino uccisa. Le loro proprietà sono state spesso vandalizzate. Secondo un rapporto pubblicato dalle Nazioni Unite nel 2020, circa il 32% degli americani e il 60% degli asiatici americani hanno osservato persone asiatiche incolpate della pandemia di coronavirus. 

Non è giusto né semplicemente attribuire la colpa di una pandemia ai piedi di un particolare individuo semplicemente a causa della sua razza, etnia, colore della pelle, o origine nazionale. In effetti, tale violenza e altre azioni contro chiunque anche in circostanze generali dovute semplicemente a motivi di razza, etnia, colore della pelle, o origine nazionale sono un'offesa contro la comunione cristiana e un insulto a Dio. 

Esortiamo il popolo cristiano a testimoniare l'amore di Cristo per tutti gli uomini e a promuovere la sua rettitudine e giustizia qui sulla terra. Allo stesso modo, chiediamo al popolo cristiano di promuovere il perdono e la riconciliazione, per non ignorare le nostre mancanze, e non tentare di sostenerci per condannando le colpe degli altri.


ENGLISH TEXT: 

Carissimi, it is with great sadness that We report the ongoing attacks on Asian people around the world, which grew in intensity during 2020 and continues to this day. Racism in general, not only against Asians, is a long-standing global problem. The COVID-19 pandemic, given the apparent geographic origins of the disease, have unfortunately spurred a dramatic increase in attacks on Asians. Such attacks happen both in Europe and in the Americas. Asian people have been brutally attacked and even killed. Their property has often been vandalised. According to a report issued by the United Nations in 2020, approximately 32% of Americans and 60% of Asian Americans observed Asian people being blamed for the coronavirus pandemic. 

It is neither right nor just to lay blame for a pandemic at the feet of a particular individual simply because of their race, ethnicity, skin colour, or national origin. Indeed, such violence and other actions against anyone even in general circumstances due simply to reasons of race, ethnicity, skin colour, or national origin is an offense against Christian fellowship and an insult to God. 

We call on Christian people to witness to the love of Christ for all people and promote his righteousness and justice here on earth. Similarly, We call on the Christian people to promote forgiveness and reconciliation, lest we ignore our own failings and attempt to build ourselves up by condemning the faults of others.

Monday, March 1, 2021

Reflections for the Second Week of Lent by His Holiness and Eminence the Archfather

FIRENZE-NUOVA ROMA 1 March 2021 (NRom)


Reflections for the Second Week of Lent
by 
His Holiness and Eminence the Archfather

Carissimi, 

in the epistle lesson for the second Sunday of Lent, the Apostle Paul gives several admonitions. Among those is that we should not overreach or circumvent our brother in business, for the Lord is the avenger thereof. In this present period in world history, it seems that the notion of leaving everyone alone to provide for themselves and their families has been lost as humanity turns further and further away from God. While it is absolutely true that neither communism or socialism in any form are compatible with the Christian faith, so also is it true that nationalism and excessive, extreme capitalism are likewise incompatible with the Christian faith.

We as Christians must not worship money or at the altar of commerce, for as our Lord tells us, no man may serve two masters. Money is indeed a tool to provide for the needs and even appropriate wants for ourselves and our families, and it is a tool to do good in the world. If we seek money for its own sake, corporate dominance as a purpose to itself, and ever-larger market shares, then we have lost our way as individuals and as a society. While appropriate competition can have many benefits, trying to put one’s competition out of business is plainly wrong. In some cases, survival indeed mandates a legitimate defence in commerce, just as we may legitimately protect our bodies. Yet, if we harm the body of another out of desire and not necessity, and we would not wish harm upon another if we could not find another way, even in defence of ourselves, then we sin against our brethren and against God. Similarly, if we do harm to others in business and in labour when it is not necessary in legitimate defence, or if it is necessary in legitimate defence, but we would not wish to find another way sincerely if it were possible, then we likewise sin against our fellow man and against God.

The rampant excesses of extreme capitalism in the Western world have reached new heights during the pandemic of last year that is now extending into the current year. Particularly due to government measures, massive corporations are making windfall gains, and others are going out of business, with so many people losing their businesses and the jobs, deprived of their rights to provide for their families. Indeed, depriving workers of their just wages is a sin rightly crying out to heaven for vengeance. What is being done to countless people around the world right now is just that. It was happening before, and the pandemic has made it dramatically worse. 

It is often said in excuse for this extreme capitalism that it is that very form of commerce and economic structure that has provided so many material benefits for society and even has furthered the ability to do so much good around the world. While there is indeed some truth to that, such benefits are not an excuse for wrong – and it is hardly true that such tactics are indeed necessary to generate benefits and to do good. Additionally, neither is the cure for extreme excessive forms of capitalism the evils of communism and socialism. These days, society is actually getting whiplash from bouncing back and forth between extremes.

To the Christian faithful who have their eyes open, the answer is very clear. It is only through the application of the faith of Christ that we may reach a free market economy that allows as many people as possible to have as much control as possible over their own financial future. Some may challenge this by saying that we can never achieve full independence in terms of the ability to provide for oneself and one’s family. Yet, that also is not even remotely an excuse for not employing appropriate, ethical, Christian principles to the economy as Christian people. This approach We propose is not another panacea such as those that so many revolutionaries from the 18th century to the present time have promised to justify their intolerable violence and the chaos they cause, only to have a new system that is no better and is even often worse than the one it replaced. Rather, this is the tried-and-true peaceful Way of Christ. That we may not achieve a full realisation of this does not in any way reduce the merit of trying to the best of our abilities.