Visit to the Vidigal Favela (2 July 1980)

On Wednesday, 2 July 1980, the Holy Father visited the Vidigal Favela in Rio de Janeiro. There he spoke to the people from the Sermon on the Mount, in particular on what it means to be poor in spirit.

1. When Jesus ascended the mountain and began to proclaim to the crowds around him his teaching, which we usually call the "sermon on the mount", the beatitudes first of all flowed from his lips. They are eight and the first declares: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3)

There is only one mountain in Galilee on which Jesus pronounced the beatitudes, but there are many places throughout the earth where these same affirmations are proclaimed and heard. And there are also many hearts that never cease to reflect on the meaning of those words spoken once and for all. They do not cease to meditate on them and their only desire is to put them into practice with all their soul. They try to live the truth of the eight beatitudes. Certainly there are also many places like this on Brazilian soil. And here too many of these hearts have existed and exist.

When I thought about how I should present myself to the inhabitants of this country which I am visiting for the first time, I felt the duty to introduce myself first of all with the teaching of the eight beatitudes. Thus was born the desire to tell you about these things, inhabitants of this favela of Vidigal. Through you I would also like to speak to all those in Brazil who live in conditions similar to yours. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

2. There are many poor among you. And the Church in Brazil wants to be the Church of the poor. She wishes that this first beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount be realized in this great country.

The poor in spirit are those who are more open to God and to "God's great works" (Acts 2:11). Poor because they are always ready to accept that gift from above that comes from God himself. Poor in spirit are those who live in the awareness of having received everything from God's hands as a free gift and who value every good received. Constantly grateful, they repeat without ceasing: "Everything is grace". “We give thanks to the Lord our God”. Of them, Jesus said at the time that they are "pure in heart", "meek"; they are the ones who "hunger and thirst for justice", they who are continually "afflicted"; they who are "peacemakers" and "persecuted for the sake of justice". Finally, they are the "merciful" (cf. Mt 5:3-10)

Indeed the poor, the poor in spirit, are the most merciful. Hearts open to God are therefore also the most open to men. They are ready to help and lend themselves. Ready to share what they have. Ready to welcome an abandoned widow or orphan into your home. They always find an extra place in the midst of the hardships in which they live. And in this spirit they know how to find a loaf of bread and a little food on their poor table.

Poor but generous, poor but magnanimous. I know that there are many of these here among you to whom I am speaking, but also in various other places in Brazil.

3. Would Christ's words about the poor in spirit make us forget injustices? Do they allow us to leave without solution the different problems that arise in the whole of what is called the social problem? These problems which are permanent in the history of humanity take on different aspects in the different periods of history and have their intensity according to the size of each society in particular, assuming at the same time the proportion of entire continents and finally of the whole world. It is therefore natural that these problems also take on a dimension specific to this country, that is, a Brazilian dimension.

The words of Christ who proclaim blessed the "poor in spirit" do not aim to eliminate all these problems: on the contrary, they highlight them by focusing them on this most essential point which is man, which is the heart of man, which is every man without exception. Man before God and, at the same time, man before other men.

Doesn't poor in spirit exactly mean "man open to others" that is, to God and neighbor?

Is it not true that this expression tells those who are not "poor in spirit" that they are outside the kingdom of God, that they are not and will not participate in this kingdom? Thinking of these men who are "rich", closed to God and men... will not Christ say in another passage: "Woe to you"? But woe to you rich people, “because you already have your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men say good things about you. In fact, their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way" (Lk 6:24-26).

"Woe to you", this word sounds severe and threatening especially on the lips of Christ who used to speak with goodness and meekness and continually repeated: "Blessed". And yet, he will also say "woe to you".

4. The Church throughout the world wants to be the Church of the poor. The Church in Brazil also wants to be the Church of the poor, that is, it wants to extract all the truth contained in the beatitudes of Christ and above all in this first one: "Blessed are the poor in spirit...". She wants to teach this truth and she wants to put it into practice as Jesus came to do and to teach.

The Church therefore wishes to draw from the teaching of the eight beatitudes everything that in them refers to every man: to those who are poor, who live in misery, to those who live in abundance and well-being and, finally, to what he has in excess and what he has to spare. The same truth of the first beatitude refers to every man, but in a different way.

To the poor, to those who live in misery it says that they are particularly close to God and his kingdom. But, at the same time, he says that they are not allowed - as nobody is allowed - to reduce themselves and their families to misery: it is necessary to do all that is lawful to ensure for oneself and one's family all that it is necessary for life and sustenance. In poverty it is necessary above all to preserve human dignity and also that magnanimity, that openness of heart with others, that availability, by which the poor, the poor in spirit, are distinguished precisely.

To those who live in abundance or at least in relative well-being, for whom they have the necessary (even if perhaps the superfluous is scarce!), the Church that wants to be the Church of the poor says: Enjoy the fruits of your labor and a lawful industry, but, in the name of Christ's words, in the name of human fraternity and social solidarity, do not withdraw into yourselves. Think of the poorest! Think of those who do not have enough, who live in chronic poverty, who suffer from hunger! And be a part of it with them! Be part of it in a programmatic and systematic way. May material abundance deprive you of the spiritual fruits of the Sermon on the Mount, may it not separate you from the beatitudes of the poor in spirit.

And the Church of the poor says the same, with greater force to those who have a surplus, who live in abundance, who live in luxury. She says to them: Look around you! Doesn't your heart ache? Don't you feel pangs of conscience because of your wealth and abundance? Otherwise, if you only want to "have", increasingly, if your idol is profit and pleasure, remember that man's value is not measured according to what he "has", but according to what he "is". Therefore, let him who has accumulated a lot and thinks that everything can be summed up in this, remember that he can be worth (in his heart and in the eyes of God) much less than any of those poor and unknown people, who perhaps can "be much less a man " of him.

The measure of wealth, money and luxury is not equivalent to the measure of man's true dignity.

Therefore, let those who have an excess avoid withdrawing into themselves, avoid attachment to their own wealth, avoid spiritual blindness. Avoid all of this with all your might. The whole truth of the Gospel does not cease to accompany them and above all the truth contained in these words: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...". (Mt 5:3).

May this truth worry them.

May it be a constant admonition and a challenge for them.

Do not allow them even for one minute to blind themselves with selfishness and the pursuit of their desires.

If you have a lot, if you have a lot, remember that you have to give a lot, that there is a lot to give. And you have to think about how to give, how to organize socio-economic life and each of its sectors so that this life tends towards equality between men and not towards an abyss between them.

If you have a lot of knowledge and are placed high up in the social hierarchy, you must not forget, not even for an instant, that the higher up one is, the more useful one must be! Serve to others. Otherwise you will find yourself in danger of distancing yourself and your life from the field of beatitudes and in particular from the first of them: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". The "rich" are also "poor in spirit" who, to the extent of their wealth, never cease to "give themselves" and "serve others".

5. Thus, therefore, the Church of the poor speaks first and foremost to man. To every man and therefore to all men. It is the universal Church. The Church of the Mystery of the Incarnation. It is not the Church of one class or one caste. And he speaks in the name of the same truth. This truth is realistic.

Let us consider well every human reality, every injustice, every tension, every struggle. The Church of the poor does not want to serve what causes tensions and makes the struggle explode between men. The only struggle, the only battle that the Church wants to serve is the noble struggle for truth and for justice and the battle for the true good, the battle in which the Church stands in solidarity with every man. On this path, the Church struggles with "the sword of the word", sparing not with encouragement but also with sometimes very severe warnings (just as Christ did). Many times even threatening and showing the consequences of falsehood and evil. In this evangelical struggle, the Church of the poor does not want to serve immediate political ends, struggles for power,

The Church of the poor therefore speaks to "man": to every man and to everyone. At the same time it speaks to societies, to societies as a whole and to different social strata, to different groups and professions. It speaks equally to social, socio-economic and socio-political systems and structures. He speaks the language of the Gospel, also explaining it in the light of the progress of human science, but without introducing extraneous, heterodox elements, contrary to his spirit. Speak to everyone in the name of Christ and also speak in the name of man (especially to those to whom the name of Christ does not say everything, does not express all the truth about man that this name contains).

The Church of the poor therefore speaks thus: Do everything, you in particular, who have the power to decide, you on whom the situation of the world depends, do everything so that the life of every man in your country becomes "more human”, more worthy of man!

Do everything to ensure that, at least gradually, that abyss that separates the "excessively rich", few in number, from the great crowds of the poor, of those who live in misery, disappears. Do everything to ensure that this abyss does not increase but decreases, so that we tend towards social equality, so that the unjust distribution of goods gives way to a more just distribution...

Do this out of consideration for every man who is your neighbor and fellow citizen. Do it in consideration of the common good of all. And do it also out of consideration for yourselves. Only a socially just society that strives to be ever more just has reason to exist. Only a society configured in this way has the future ahead of it. The society that is not socially just and does not tend to make itself so, endangers its future. So think about the past and look at today and plan the best future of your entire company!

All of this is contained in what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount. In the content of this single sentence: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".

Dear brothers and sisters, with this message I renew my sentiments of deep affection, and as a pledge of God's abundant graces I leave you and your families my apostolic blessing.

Dear brothers and sisters, in visiting you from Vidigal, I wished to visit all those who live in the favelas in any part of this beloved Brazil which I am traveling through on an apostolic pilgrimage. Having come here, I became interested, as a father and pastor, concerned about the living conditions of very dear children. I asked questions about everyone and everything in relation to this favela.

They told me about you and how in the midst of deprivation, struggle and bitterness, there is solidarity and mutual help among all, thanks be to God. They also told me about the "mutirâo" (a spontaneous and free form of collaboration for the construction of a house; translator's note), thanks to whom the chapel was built which I will soon bless. It is always beautiful and important that all people come together, give each other a hand and, by pooling their efforts, manage to achieve together what they could not alone.

I rejoice with those who, directly or indirectly, in the area of ​​this favela have managed to resolve problems justly and peacefully, the settlement of which will contribute to making everyone's life more humane and to making this marvelous city increasingly a city of brothers and sisters. .

I have come here not out of curiosity, but because I love you and I would like to say with Saint Paul: "Because of the affection we feel for you, we desire to share with you not only the Gospel, but also life itself" (cf. 1Thess 2,8 ). With you, with a "heart purified" of bad feelings, I would always like to say no to indifference, disinterest and all forms of selfishness, and yes to solidarity, fraternity and love, because "God is love" ( 1Jn 4:16).

So I greet you, your families, especially the young people and children, and all of you here at Vidigal, telling you that I am thinking of you and praying for you, that divine providence may be seconded by human providence, so that you can improve your life.

And now I'm going to give my blessing to everyone.

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Publishing House