Parolin addresses Singapore social cohesion meet

Sep 17, 2022

SINGAPORE: Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, has stressed the importance of embracing diversity and a strong sense of responsibility to establish communities based on fraternity and justice for better social cohesion.

Cardinal Parolin made the remarks during a special address on the opening day of the International Conference of Cohesive Societies (ICCS) in Singapore.

“From the dignity, unity, and equality of all persons derives, first of all, the principle of the common good to which every aspect of social life must be related if it is to attain its coolest meaning,” the prelate said while speaking virtually from the Vatican.

“According to its primary and broadly accepted sense,” Cardinal Parolin said, “the common good indicates the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to achieve their fulfilment more fully and more easily.”

The September 6-8 event themed Confident Identities, Connected Communities was organised jointly by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Nanyang Technological University, and sponsored by Singapore’s Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth.

Some 800 participants from more than 40 countries including religious leaders, academics, civil society activists, and policymakers attended the conference at the Raffles Convention Centre in Singapore.

During his address, Cardinal Parolin urged all to join “a caravan of solidarity, a sacred pilgrimage” for achieving the common good for all.

He listed six action points to establish a cohesive society:

-- Everyone is a promoter of solidarity

-- Build solidarity with youth leadership

-- Solidarity is a commitment to creating inviting cities, which “are rich in humanity, hospitable, inviting if we are all attentive and kind to those in need; and if we are able to engage constructively and cooperatively for the benefit of everyone.”

-- Solidarity is assuming responsibility for the other person's problems

-- Solidarity is defined by closeness and generosity, and it involves taking care of one another

-- Solidarity is a way to create history.

“Solidarity entails overcoming the damaging consequences of selfishness in order to make way for the bravery of listening gestures. In this sense, solidarity is thus a means of creating history,” he said.

Cardinal Parolin noted that contemporary society is characterised by “new forms of individual insecurity and community fragmentation,” which is a result of social, cultural, demographic, and economic transformations.

This problem, he said, was intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The prelate also said that individuals share the responsibility of initiating and generating new processes and transformations and become “active participants” in the rehabilitation and support of wounded societies today.

He also acknowledged that there is a “major crisis of solidarity in our societies” adding that “our society is paying less and less attention to the dynamics of solidarity.”

In his speech, Cardinal Parolin shared his Christian viewpoint on solidarity.

He said that Christians are invited to practise solidarity as God revealed himself to them as a “God of Solidarity.” — ucanews.com