Cry of the Poor, Cry of Human Societies in Conflict and Ill, Cry of the Planet: The OFM Friars Response

We Friars Minor, Franciscans, cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of our brothers and sisters who have a fundamental right given by God to each and every human person: the right to adequate food, shelter, proper health care, security, and freedom of movement and freedom of ideas and association.  We Franciscans are committed to link our lives and our energies, through the work of our justice and peace offices in the more than 110 countries where we live and work, to defend the rights of our people, to promote just economic, political and social structures that do not always respect the needs of the people but promote only the interests of the few, to encourage greater care for the environment, most especially in those regions of the world where uncontrolled exploitation has led to the destruction of the world’s rain forests, the ‘lungs’ of the planet.

During our 2009 General Chapter focusing on the Evangelizing Mission of the Church, we discussed the relationship between the demands of our faith and those of human beings, and fundamental human rights that we as men of the Gospel and as ‘brothers to the poor and to all people’ must proclaim and defend.  For this reason, we took up the cause of the poor during our meetings and addressed a letter to the G8 Ministers.  In our letter, we called attention to the plight of the poor and hungry of our world, the need for greater regulation and management of economic systems to ensure that the production of goods and wealth are not to enrich a small group of people but must be used for the well being of all people.  We called on the G8 leaders – and we call on all world leaders – to promote peace and reconciliation among their people and to take immediate steps to end the illicit and immoral sales of arms, which lead to unparalleled human suffering and to failing or failed states.  We also called on the G8 Ministers to commit greater resources to the creation of alternative and sustainable forms of development that do not lead to further environmental degradation and which are within the reach of the poor and those most in need.  We shared this message with the G8 Ministers because we see on a daily basis in the more than 110 countries where we live and care for those most in need the consequences of poverty, hunger, poor health care, violence and war, environmental degradation, and abuse of human rights and the dignity of human beings. 

We Franciscans will continue to attend to the poor and most vulnerable through our work in health care and education, our care for those living with HIV, our programs of trauma healing and creation of micro-industries for women, girls, and other vulnerable groups, and our outreach to the poor and marginalized who number more than 15 million living in the ‘developed’ world.  We also will continue to promote peace and reconciliation through our presence in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin and South America, Europe and North America .  

Through the work of our Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office in Rome, and work of similar offices throughout the world, we raise the voice of those who are most affected and defend their fundamental human rights.  Through our work with Franciscans International at the United Nations, a work that involves all branches of the Franciscan movement worldwide and with a collective voice of more than 800,000, we work with the international community in order to promote economic, political, cultural and social systems that respond to the needs of human beings and contribute to world peace and greater care for the environment. We are not silent when human rights are violated anywhere in the world.  We do not stand by when governments or corporations engage in unethical use of natural resources.  Nor are we silent in the face of the more than 600,000 human beings, primarily women, girls and children, who are bought and sold – trafficked – for commercial sex or degrading labor.  We are not silent because the Gospel and the invitation of St. Francis of Assisi, and that of the Church, require this of us as ‘brothers’ to all of humanity and to creation.