Urges Humility and Solidarity – “How wonderful would it be if solidarity became the default attitude in political, economic and scientific choices, in relationships among individuals, peoples and countries. Only by educating people to a true solidarity will we be able to overcome the “culture of waste,” which concerns, first and foremost, the people who are cast aside by our techno-economic systems.” (paraphrased)
The Pope’s talk is timely given the dawn of new technology enablers like AI and the renewed populist and nationalistic movements that are embracing the modern world today.
Nearly two years ago, the Pope also published an urgent call to arms on climate change. The 183-page “Laudato Si” (“Be praised”) was addressed not only to Catholics around the world but also to “every living person on the planet.”
Brief Papal Bio
Pope Francis was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936 and is as pedigreed in religion as in the sciences – he has a Masters in Chemistry and another Masters in Philosophy, and a PhD in Theology. In fact he was a chemical technician before he joined the priesthood. So his admonitions on climate science, dismissed by some last year including Governor Santorum in the U.S., has not been without an educated mind’s footing.
Since arriving at the Vatican, Pope Francis has put poor people and poverty at the center of his global agenda, and frequently makes headlines for offering tangible support to people in need. His April TED video on the subject of inclusion is, while somewhat unexpected given that no papal figure has ever given a talk on TED, therefore not a real surprise.
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Partial Transcript of the Pope’s Speech via TED
“0:15 Good evening – or, good morning, I am not sure what time it is there. Regardless of the hour, I am thrilled to be participating in your conference. I very much like its title – “The Future You” – because, while looking at tomorrow, it invites us to open a dialogue today, to look at the future through a “you.” “The Future You:” the future is made of yous, it is made of encounters, because life flows through our relations with others. Quite a few years of life have strengthened my conviction that each and everyone’s existence is deeply tied to that of others: life is not time merely passing by, life is about interactions.
1:27 As I meet, or lend an ear to those who are sick, to the migrants who face terrible hardships in search of a brighter future, to prison inmates who carry a hell of pain inside their hearts, and to those, many of them young, who cannot find a job, I often find myself wondering: “Why them and not me?” I, myself, was born in a family of migrants; my father, my grandparents, like many other Italians, left for Argentina and met the fate of those who are left with nothing. I could have very well ended up among today’s “discarded” people. And that’s why I always ask myself, deep in my heart: “Why them and not me?“
2:35 First and foremost, I would love it if this meeting could help to remind us that we all need each other,none of us is an island, an autonomous and independent “I,” separated from the other, and we can only build the future by standing together, including everyone. We don’t think about it often, but everything is connected, and we need to restore our connections to a healthy state. Even the harsh judgment I hold in my heart against my brother or my sister, the open wound that was never cured, the offense that was never forgiven, the rancor that is only going to hurt me, are all instances of a fight that I carry within me, a flare deep in my heart that needs to be extinguished before it goes up in flames, leaving only ashes behind.
3:38 Many of us, nowadays, seem to believe that a happy future is something impossible to achieve. While such concerns must be taken very seriously, they are not invincible. They can be overcome when we don’t lock our door to the outside world. Happiness can only be discovered as a gift of harmony between the whole and each single component. Even science – and you know it better than I do – points to an understanding of reality as a place where every element connects and interacts with everything else.
4:27 And this brings me to my second message. How wonderful would it be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation would come along with more equality and social inclusion. How wonderful would it be, while we discover faraway planets, to rediscover the needs of the brothers and sisters orbiting around us. How wonderful would it be if solidarity, this beautiful and, at times, inconvenient word,were not simply reduced to social work, and became, instead, the default attitude in political, economic and scientific choices, as well as in the relationships among individuals, peoples and countries. Only by educating people to a true solidarity will we be able to overcome the “culture of waste,” which doesn’t concern only food and goods but, first and foremost, the people who are cast aside by our techno-economic systems which, without even realizing it, are now putting products at their core, instead of people.
Source: TED
