Pope Francis with children at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, yesterday.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Pope Francis yesterday said leaders must address the issues raised in protests in Brazil, and in a message to priests worldwide urged them to leave their comfortable surroundings to serve the poor and needy.
In a talk to Brazil’s cultural and business leaders in Rio’s Municipal Theatre, Francis, in his first direct mention of the protests, said constructive dialogue was “essential for facing the present moment.”
Latin America’s largest nation has been rocked by protests against corruption, the misuse of public money and the high cost of living. Most of the protesters are young. “Between selfish indifference and violent protest there is always another possible option: that of dialogue. Dialogue between generations, dialogue with the people, the capacity to give and receive, while remaining open to the truth,” he said.
He urged leaders not to remain deaf to “the outcry, the call for justice (that) continues to be heard even today” and, in an apparent reference to corruption, spoke of “the task of rehabilitating politics.”
Francis met on stage with some of Brazil’s indigenous people and donned a feathered headdress.
The pope began his penultimate day in Brazil by prodding priests to get out of their comfort zones and go out to the streets and slums.
“We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel,” he said in the sermon of a Mass in Rio’s cathedral.
Since his election in March as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, Francis has been prodding priests, nuns and bishops to think less about their careers in the Church and listen more to the cries of those hungry to fill both material and spiritual needs. Reuters
