Marcelo recognizes that there is a “huge problem” of poverty in Portugal – DNOTICIAS.PT
The President of the Republic today warned of poverty in Portugal, calling it “an enormous problem” and “the problem of problems”, calling for action by Christians and defending that they must project their faith in the public space.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was speaking at Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon, at the launch of the book “What have you done with your brother?”, which brings together texts by Alfredo Bruto da Costa, published by Editorial Cáritas, with the subtitle “A look of faith on the poverty in the world”.
In an intervention of about half an hour, the head of State carved Alfredo Bruto da Costa as “a prophet” who made “freedom from poverty” his life plan, and did not posthumously honor the former minister of Social Affairs with the Order of Freedom, which he handed over to the family. The President of the Republic shared “a first reflection” on the posthumous work launched today: “The urgency of poverty, the urgency of the theme of this book, but also of the commitment of each one of us”. “Before the pandemic it was said that there were close to 100 million poor, after the pandemic 220 million poor in the world. Before the pandemic it was said that there were two million poor in Portugal, after the pandemic of two million and 200 million in Portugal,” he said.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that the National Strategy for Combating Poverty has as its objective “360 thousand Portuguese and Portuguese people out of poverty by 2030” and noted: “We are talking about more than 50 years or on the way to 50 years to reach the two million and 200 thousand”. “Therefore, we have a huge problem, a problem first, the problem of problems, and that alone justifies the importance of our meeting today,” he considered.
The Head of State, who is Catholic, then addressed the Christians in attendance: “For many of us here present, there is a duty to act, which is the great difference between the New and the Old Testament. a duty not to act to act, not to violate certain rules, principles or values or dictates. Now, there is a duty to act in order to implement them”. “This is one of the dimensions of the ethics of care: acting on the social plane, we would say, political, in the broader sense of politics”, he reinforced further on, after quoting a text in which Bruto da Costa states that, “by abstaining if from political intervention, the Christian resigns from the consistent exercise of charity and justice”.
The President of the Republic argued that “there is no constitutional recommendation” for this intervention, on the contrary: “Religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution is the freedom to live the faith as it is. And faith is not lived inside the temples, only. One does not live within communities that share the same faith, only. One does not live behind closed doors, in debates, reflections, prayers, one lives in the public space. It does not violate the Constitution, but applies the Constitution to living the faith no public space”. “Alfredo Bruto da Costa belonged to a generation that did this, and he did it most of the time in a dictatorship. And then it was obvious. If it’s obvious in a dictatorship, why is it less obvious in a democracy? What’s the logic? Does this mean that there is oneness, uniformity in the experiences of faith? No. Each one has their own path of faith”, he continued.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “faith has inevitably provoked sociopolitical issues, if it is not a lame faith”, and in articles such as poverty “it is impossible for Christians, according to the path that each one has of their faith, don’t feel obligated to project it in public space”. “And that can’t be more public than in a democracy: by definition it’s more public, it’s more demanding, it’s more shared, it’s more shared than in a dictatorship. And this appeal is very important, I think, and that’s why this work is so important, and that’s why today’s meeting is so important,” he concluded.
University professor and former minister Alfredo Bruto da Costa died on November 11, 2016, aged 78. An engineer with a doctorate in social sciences, Bruto da Costa was Minister of Social Affairs in the Government headed by Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, provider of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon and president of the Economic and Social Council and the National Commission for Justice and Peace.