I am writing this commentary Thursday evening in my hotel room in Lourdes, just across the road from the famous sanctuaries and the Grotto. I was invited to address a session of the International St Francis de Sales Days which are mainly attended by Catholic journalists and other media operatives from around the world. The Study Days are discussing ‘Media and Truth’.
More than 1,000km away there is another meeting, the World Economic Forum being held in Davos, Switzerland. The theme is ‘Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World’.
It is a positive thing that the rich and the powerful are recognising the fact that the world is fractured. They are largely to blame, not the poor and the disenfranchised who are the victims. The promised benefits of a globalised world economy have not been equitably distributed. The global village pledged as a result of communication technologies which should have networked everyone have left many in the cold. The environment has been ravished. Instead of a common home we live in a common slum.
Trumps’ isolationist policies are endangering the start of a trade war and the disruption of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Divisive narratives are stealing the headlines of the world’s most popular media. Such narratives trickle down to the grass roots much more than good economic results trickle down to those in need. Worse still, the trickling down of such divisive narratives can be a strategy to alienate people from the economic injustices that oppress many.
At Davos positive speeches there were aplenty. Many daring wishes were expressed. PM Justin Trudeau, to mention just one example, said that large companies are avoiding taxes while cutting benefits. He emphasised that that “approach won’t cut it anymore” and that “companies must give back more”. Is this just oratory or a plan of action?
The Pope, in his message, did not mince his words. Francis told world leaders and global executives about new forms of slavery besides such challenges as unemployment, poverty, economic and social inequality. He appealed for policies that favour the family as well as for action to alleviate the suffering of millions of people whose dignity is wounded.
The healing of the fractures can only happen if humans ‘keep the compass continually oriented toward the ‘true North’, that is, authentic values’
“By rejecting a ‘throwaway’ culture and a mentality of indifference, the entrepreneurial world has enormous potential to effect substantial change by increasing the quality of productivity, creating new jobs, respecting labour laws, fighting against public and private corruption and promoting social justice, together with the fair and equitable sharing of profits,” the Pope said.
Is there a nexus between what is being discussed in Davos and what is being discussed in Lourdes? Undoubtedly there is.
The journalists meeting in Lourdes are concerned by the fracturing of truth which is a prime reason for the fracturing of the world. Without truth, human living as we know it is not possible. Indeed, there is no possibility of progress in sciences without concern for accuracy and truth, no living democracy if its fundaments are built on lies, no relationship which is excepted to last without such a requirement, no press publication which is credible without an aspiration for objectivity.
The total relativisation of the concept of truth which is so common today brought with it the breakdown of trust and the breakdown of solidarity. One example suffices. Unscrupulous politicians and other public figures become so skilled at disguising or manipulating the truth that it has now become difficult for ordinary people to believe them, because they can no longer tell when those who rule over them are telling the truth and when they are lying. This means that people have lost trust in politicians.
Have we reached the point of no return? The Pope thinks that it is not the case... he encouraged world leaders “to take courageous and bold steps for our beloved planet”. For him this is the right moment to put into action our responsibility to contribute to the development of humanity. Francis said that the healing of the fractures can only happen if humans “keep the compass continually oriented toward the ‘true North’, that is, authentic values”.
For Catholics the message of Lourdes should be very relevant to the leaders meeting at Davos as it embodies the “authentic values” the Pope referred to. Lourdes is the place where the vulnerable feel empowered. Conversion, that is a radical re-orientation of one’s life, is its leitmotiv. This is not a cheap conversion. It is built on penance or the effort (many times demanding, even painful) to put aside the short-term gains, many times gotten at the expense of others that are promised by sin. Lourdes proposes wholeness (on an individual and collective level) instead of fractures.
Lourdes can teach us a lot about how to achieve the healing of fractures and the achievement of a shared future that political and economic leaders are grappling with at Davos.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt