“Wealth is a responsibility,” says François

2024-09-26 13:40:00

Met under the immense art deco chandelier of the Cercle Cité de Luxembourg, Steve Heiliger prepares to listen to the Pope, Thursday 26 September in broad daylight. “In 1985, the predecessor of his predecessor (John Paul II, first pope to visit Luxembourg) came to address the Catholics. Today he is above all head of state (from the Vatican) that we receive”, judges the president of the country’s Economic and Social Council. Were you expecting a speech on aid to poor countries or on tax justice? “Luxembourg is exemplary in terms of cooperation, practically a model student,” the man said, a little embarrassed.

With this visit, Francis will have stayed in two of the three countries where per capita wealth is the highest in the world. After Singapore at the beginning of September, in third position, the Pope begins his trip to the Benelux with a day in Luxembourg, the second country in the ranking with a gross domestic product per capita of just over 112,000 euros (World Bank, 2022), more than double that of France. Qatar is missing.

The Pope has just arrived in Belgium, at the Melsbroek air base, near Brussels. @LaCroixpic.twitter.com/s9akFOx6OZ

— Mikael Corre (@mikaelcorre) September 26, 2024

Money from the sale of weapons

In front of the Luxembourg political and civil authorities, Francis first of all renewed his appeal for peace in Europe, seeming to regret – without saying it explicitly – the absence of negotiations with Russia and the delivery of weapons to Ukraine.

“It is clear that fractures and enmities are re-emerging, even on the European continent, which, instead of being resolved on the basis of mutual good will, negotiation and diplomatic work, lead to open hostilities with their procession of destruction and death”, he said, without citing an example, but saying to himself “It is very sad that today in a European country the investment that pays the most is the manufacturing of weapons”. Under the moldings and large red curtains of the twentieth-century Cercle Cité palace, the Argentine Pope asked the 300 politicians and members of Luxembourg civil society present not to forget that “Wealth is a responsibility “. This Thursday afternoon was the crux of the matter.

“I ask that we always be careful not to neglect the most disadvantaged nations, and rather that we help them emerge from their impoverished condition,” developed François, who several times in the past called for the cancellation of the debt of Southern countries.

As he did on September 9, from one of the poorest states in the world, East Timor, he launched an appeal not only to welcome migrants better, but also to fight against the causes of emigration. “This is a fundamental way to reduce the number of those who are forced to emigrate, often in inhumane and dangerous conditions,” he said, asking that Luxembourg be “a help and an example to indicate the way forward in the reception and integration of migrants and refugees”. As we age, the country’s population is made up of 47.3% foreigners.

The advantages of cooperation

Welcomed a few hours before this first speech at the airport by a banner “Welcome to Luxembourg, the European capital”François also addressed the representatives of the European Union (EU) present at the Cercle Cité. “Educated by his history, (Luxembourg) has stood out, since the end of the Second World War, for its commitment to building a united and united Europe in which every country, large or small, would have its role to play. The Pope said this while recalling the presence in the city of the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and the EU Investment Bank.

“Luxembourg, he concludedcan show everyone the benefits of peace compared to the horrors of war, of the integration and promotion of migrants compared to their segregation, the benefits of cooperation between nations compared to the harmful consequences of the hardening of positions and selfish and short-sighted pursuit, even violent, of personal interests”, despite the fact that Luxembourg is regularly criticized for its legislation that encourages tax evasion.

The Pope is traveling to the country at a time when the local Caritas finds itself at the center of an embezzlement scandal, revealed in July by Luxembourg radio 100.7. In fact, 61 million euros would have been stolen within the association structure, whose employees now fear for their jobs and for the survival of humanitarian projects. “Let’s save the Caritas Foundation”, we could read this afternoon on a sign displayed in front of the building where François spoke.

This Thursday at 4.30pm, the Pope continues his visit with a meeting with members of the clergy and consecrated persons in the Notre-Dame cathedral in Luxembourg, before returning to the plane. He is expected in the early evening at the Melsbroek air base in Belgium. Early in the morning, Francis came very briefly to talk to journalists on the plane from Rome, but did not move to greet them one by one as he is accustomed to doing. This week the 87-year-old pope appeared tired. Monday, at “influence” had forced him to lighten the schedule of a week that promises to be intense.