Below is the text of message that Mons. Antonio Giuseppe Caiazzo, Archbishop of the diocese of Matera-Irsina and Bishop of Tricarico, wrote as delegate of the Episcopal Conference of Basilicata for Social and Labor Pastoral on the occasion of Labor Day 2024.
After recalling the recent ad limina visit of the Lucanian bishops and their meeting with the Holy Father, Monsignor Caiazzo recalled some of the topics discussed in the dialogue with Pope Francis: the lack of work and the flight of young people from our region.
The Church, writes Mgr. Caiazzo feels like a traveling companion of the Lucanian people in responding to these critical issues; this requires the “strip ourselves of self-referentiality and the culture of complaints to move towards othersmeet him, open your heart and inhabit the places of comparison and dialogue” in the style of the Policoro Project and in harmony with the path of the Italian Church which is preparing to experience in Trieste, from 3 to 7 July next, the 50th Social Week of Catholics in Italy with the theme “At the heart of democracy, Participating among history and future”.
This theme, it is reiterated, is a real “encouragement to the culture of responsibility and participation against the risk of disengagement and the loss of democracy for the annihilation of the primacy of the person”.
“Dear,
with our brother Archbishops and Bishops of Basilicata we recently concluded the so-called “Visit ad Limina Apostolorum”. It represents one of the central moments in the exercise of the Holy Father’s pastoral ministry.
The Pope received us Pastors of the particular Churches and discussed with us issues concerning our ecclesial mission embodied in the specific territory of Basilicata with its riches and critical issues, with its beauties and fears for the future.
In a spirit of communion we presented, with a choral language, a Church which, following the synodal path and starting from the explosive force of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Master and Lord, embodies the issues and urgencies of our land.
Among these, the most relevant issue was the lack of work and the consequent systematic hemorrhage of young people forced to leave their roots.
In the summary that we presented to the various Dicasteries and in the long dialogue we had with Pope Francis we continually highlighted these dramatic dynamics of the territory which are indicative of the fragilities and social emergencies of the Lucanian community.
In our land of Basilicata we observe with sadness many shortcomings and critical issues: countries with few inhabitants, churches that are slowly emptying of the faithful, companies without workers, fathers and mothers without work, squares without young people, ballot boxes without voters.
In the last regional elections, many of those eligible did not go to vote by choice or because they were prevented by emigration.
It is not up to us to make political assessments but we are certain of one thing: we feel that we must respond to shortcomings with the ability to dream and reinvigorate hope, sharing projects together, looking at the beauties of our territories with proactive eyes, connecting with other local entities: entrepreneurs, bodies, associations, administrations, Church.
We owe it to our young people who, after completing their high school or university studies, make the choice to leave.
We owe it to our elderly people who still manage to keep the internal areas alive on their own.
On this day of May 1, 2024, Workers’ Day, as Bishop delegate in our Region for social problems and work, justice and peace, I express, in the spirit of communion and brotherhood that characterizes us with other pastors of Basilicata, and in light of what we meditated during the ad limina visit, a specific reflection keeping in mind an unavoidable evangelical principle, therefore, of the Church: work cannot be considered a mere “doing something”, because it makes us an active part in the great divine work: «My Father always works and I too work» (Jn 5,17), consequently, every work must be considered as acting “with” and “for” others.
If this is the basic principle, it goes without saying that we cannot accept any type of exploitation or precarious employment.
Not only that, but from this perspective, one cannot ignore the the need for employment to be “dignified for all”.
Just as we cannot continue to witness the lack of safety, the main cause of the death of workers themselves. And we in Basilicata are paying a very high price for it.
As the Churches of this beloved land, with delegates from all the Dioceses, we are preparing to experience the 50th Social Week of Catholics in Italy which will be celebrated in Trieste from 3 to 7 July on the theme “At the heart of democracy.
Participating between history and future”.
In recent months, the regional group of Community Animators of the Policoro Basilicata Project has held a series of meetings called “Agorà of the young Lucanians”, in which various themes relating to the topic of the Common Good were addressed.
Around 300 young people from all over the region participated and connected online from the diocesan offices.
The Agora concluded with the preparatory meeting in view of Trieste, with the presence of Monsignor Luigi Renna, Archbishop of Catania and National President of the Scientific Committee of the Social Weeks, at the headquarters of the Parish of Our Lady of Pompeii in Garaguso Stopover.
In the message, we bishops correlate the perspective of the encyclical letter “Centesimus annus” of John Paul II with article 1 of the Italian Constitution and say: “The ‘public thing’ is the fruit of the work of men and women who have contributed and continue to contribute to a democratic country, without the exercise of this right and the assurance that everyone can exercise it, the dream of democracy cannot be realized”.
From the discussions we had with the representatives of the Social and Labor Pastoral and of the Policoro Project, it emerges from everyone, young and old, that the challenge that awaits us is that of strip ourselves of self-referentiality and the culture of complaints to go towards others, meet them, open our hearts and inhabit places of discussion and dialogue.
The real poverty which, especially in our Basilicata, emerges in all its drama, is precisely the absence of work.
The incentives provided as bonuses for energy bills are certainly a useful tool, but what we really need is a serious investment in planning, training and innovation on youth employment policies, so that our young people remain or return to our land and can, drawing on what they have earned with dignity, also pay their bills with their own means.
There are solutions but they must be planned and implemented, as the theme of the 50th Catholic Social Week in Italy says, “At the heart of democracy. Participating between history and future” with the model of community participation so that planning becomes a vision capable of looking into the future.
All this dynamism that we hope will help us to open up to the new technologies “that the ecological transition presents” to create conditions of social equity in our territory. But let’s not forget that for us it is necessary to also look at the change scenarios that artificial intelligence can trigger. With particular confidence we look to Pope Francis’ participation in the next G7, certain that his presence and his thoughts will be of help for a reflection consistent with the fundamental principles that characterize the life of every person, without losing his central role .
No one wants to teach others what to do or how to do it.
Nor to the institutions. But also the Church, an integral part of the people of Lucania because it listens to them, dialogues with them, takes charge, in the words of Gaudium et Spes, “of the sadness and anxieties of today’s men, of the poor above all and of all those who suffer” and therefore becomes a traveling companion, she must be listened to.
We are aware that a decent work also requires “a fair wage and an adequate social security system” to bridge the economic gaps between North and South, between generations and also between men and women, otherwise “we will not be able to talk about a complete democracy in our country”.
This will allow families to form and live peacefully, returning to open up to life, since taking the problem of lack of work to heart and taking care of those who work is an act of political charity and democracy.
Differentiated autonomy will certainly not help us as it will further widen the national gap: a North that will become increasingly richer because it is more connected to Europe and an increasingly poorer South as it is too far from the rest of Italy and Europe .
This is why the path towards the social weeks is for everyone an encouragement to the culture of responsibility and participation against the risk of disengagement, of the loss of democracy due to the annihilation of the primacy of the person. In fidelity to the Christian message arises the capacity for concrete commitment in various fields.
The path towards the Trieste Social Week is a path that invites us to experiment with good participation practices to actively experience the beauty of democratic life.
In the Exhortation Laudate Deum, Pope Francis invites us not to procrastinate: we can no longer waste time, this is the moment to move from fear to courage and therefore to commit ourselves personally.
Each of us can offer a valid contribution for the common good.
Our hope is this: to be guided, in the various actions, by those principles dictated by our Constitution which dedicates one of its central parts to work.
The Republic “recognizes the right to work of all citizens and promotes the conditions that make this right effective” (art.4); “protects work in all its forms and applications. It takes care of the training and professional development of workers” (art.35); “Every citizen unable to work and without the necessary means to live has the right to maintenance and social assistance.” (art.38).
I hug you and bless you.”
