Continued from page 1

PONTIFICAL COMMISSION JUSTICE AND PEACE

THE CHURCH AND RACISM

Towards a More Fraternal Society

III. The Dignity of Every Race and the Unity of Humankind: The Christian Vision

17. The Christian doctrine about the human person has developed from and is enlightened by biblical Revelation, as well as from a continuous confrontation with the aspirations and experiences of peoples. This doctrine has inspired the Church's attitudes, as we have already mentioned, throughout history. It has been clearly taken up and synthesized for our time by the Second Vatican Council in several key texts. The following passage is an example of this: "All men are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God's image; they have the same nature and origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality between all men and it must be given ever greater recognition.

"Undoubtedly not all men are alike as regards physical capacity and intellectual and moral powers. But forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion, must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design."(23)

This doctrine has frequently been repeated by the popes and bishops. For example, Paul VI specified when speaking to the Diplomatic Corps: "For those who believe in God, all human beings, even the least privileged, are sons of the universal Father who created them in his image and guides their destinies with thoughtful love. The fatherhood of God means brotherhood among men: this is a strong point of Christian universalism, a common point, too, with other great religions and an axiom of the highest human wisdom of all times, that which involves the promotion of man's dignity."(24)

John Paul II in turn reaffirmed: "Man's creation by God `in his own image' confers upon every human person an eminent dignity; it also postulates the fundamental equality of all human beings. For the Church, this equality, which is rooted in man's being, acquires the dimension of an altogether special brotherhood through the Incarnation of the Son of God.... In the Redemption effected by Jesus Christ the Church sees a further basis of the rights and duties of the human person. Hence every form of discrimination based on race...is absolutely unacceptable."(25)

18. This principle of the equal dignity of all persons, of whatever race, already finds solid support in the sciences and a firm basis in philosophy, ethics and religions in general. The Christian faith respects this intuition, this affirmation, and rejoices in it. It represents a considerable convergence among the various disciplines which reinforces the convictions of the majority of people of good will and allows the drawing up of universal declarations, conventions and international agreements for the protection of human rights, and the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. It is in this sense that Paul VI spoke about "an axiom of the highest human wisdom of all times."

Nevertheless, these approaches are not all of the same order and their respective levels must be respected.

The sciences, on their part, contribute to dispelling much of the false evidence used to justify racist behavior or to delay necessary changes. According to a declaration prepared at UNESCO on June 8, 1951, by a group of prominent scientists: "Experts generally recognize that all human persons living today belong to the same species, homo sapiens, and that they descended from one same stock."(26) But the sciences are not sufficient to substantiate antiracist convictions. Because of their methods, they do not allow themselves to say the last word about the human person and his or her destiny, and to define universal moral rules of a binding nature for consciences.

Philosophy, ethics and the major religions are interested in the origin, nature and destiny of human beings on a level that escapes scientific research left to its own means. They seek to base unconditional respect for all human life on a more decisive level than the observing of customs and the consensus of an age, which is always fragile and ambiguous. They can therefore, in the best of cases, adopt a universalism which Christian doctrine bases solidly on Revelation received from God.

19. According to biblical Revelation, God created the human being-man and woman-in his image and likeness.(27) This bond between the human person and the Creator provides the basis of his or her dignity and fundamental inalienable rights of which God is the guarantor. To these personal rights obviously correspond duties toward others. Neither the individual nor society, the State nor any human institution can reduce a person, or a group of persons, to the status of an object.

The belief that God is at the origin of humankind transcends, unifies and gives meaning to all the partial observations that science can amass about the process of evolution and the development of societies. It is the most radical affirmation of the equal dignity of all persons in God. With this concept, a person eludes all those manipulations of human powers and of ideological propaganda which seek to justify the servitude of the weakest. Faith in the one God, Creator and Redeemer of all humankind made in his image and likeness, constitutes the absolute and inescapable negation of any racist ideologies. It is still necessary to draw out all the consequences of this: "We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than brotherly fashion, for all men are created in God's image."(28)

20. Revelation, indeed, insists just as much on the unity of the human family: all persons created in God have the same origin. Whatever throughout history may have been their dispersion or the accentuation of their differences, they are destined to form one sole family according to God's plan established "in the beginning." In the first man, the unity of all humankind, present and future, is typologically affirmed. Adam-from adama, the earth-is a collective singular It is the human species which is the "image of God." Eve, the first woman, is called "the mother of all those who live,"(29) and from the first couple "the human race was born,"(30) and everyone is of the "family of Adam."(31) As St. Paul told the Athenians: "From one single stock he...created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth," and so everyone can say with the poet that they are of God's same "race."(32)

The choice of the Jewish people does not contradict this universalism. It was a divine pedagogy which wanted to assure the preservation and development of faith in the Eternal, who is unique, thus giving a basis to the ensuing responsibilities. If the people of Israel were aware of a special bond with God, they also affirmed that there was a Covenant of the entire human race with him(33) and that, also in the Covenant made with them, all peoples are called to salvation: "All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you," God told Abraham.(34)

21. The New Testament reinforces this revelation of the dignity of all persons, their basic unity and their duty of fraternity, since all are equally saved and gathered together by Christ.

The mystery of the Incarnation shows in what esteem God held human nature since, in his Son, he wanted to unite it to his own nature without any confusion or separation. In a certain way, Christ has united himself with each person.(35) Christ is, in a unique way, "the image of the invisible God."(36) He alone perfectly manifests God's being in the humble human condition which he freely assumed.(37)

This is why he is the "new Adam," the prototype of a new humanity, "the eldest of many brothers"(38) in whom the divine likeness disfigured by sin is restored. By becoming flesh among us, the eternal Word of God "humbled himself to share in our humanity,"(39) in order to make us share in his divinity. The work of salvation carried out by God in Christ is universal. It is no longer destined only for the chosen people. It is the whole "race of Adam" which is involved and which is "recapitulated" in Christ, according to the expression of St. Irenaeus.(40) With Christ, all are called to enter through faith into the definitive Covenant with God,(41) over and above circumcision, the Law of Moses and race.

This Covenant is fulfilled and sealed through the sacrifice of Christ, who obtained the Redemption of a sinful humanity. Through Christ's cross was abolished the religious division-which had hardened into ethnic division-between the peoples of the promise that was already fulfilled and the rest of humanity. The pagans who were until that time "excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise..., have been brought very close, by the blood of Christ."(42) It is he who had "made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility...."(43) Out of the Jew and the pagan, Christ wanted "to create one single New Man in himself." This New Man is the collective name of humanity redeemed by him, with all the diversity of its components, reconciled with God in a single Body which is the Church, through the Cross which killed hostility.(44) In this way, now "...there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything."(45) Therefore, the believer, whatever his previous condition may have been, has put on the New Man who is constantly renewed in the image of his Creator. And Christ gathers together in unity the scattered children of God.(46)

Christ's message envisages not only a spiritual fraternity. It presupposes and entails very important concrete behavior in daily life. Christ himself gave the example. The narrow context of Palestine where nearly all his earthly life took place did not give him many opportunities to meet people from another race. However, he accepted all the categories of persons with whom he came into contact. He did not hesitate to spend time with the Samaritans(47) and to refer to them as an example,(48) although they were despised by the Jews, who treated them as heretics. He made all who were marginalized in one way or another benefit from his salvation: the sick, sinners-men and women, prostitutes, publicans, pagans such as the Syro-phoenician woman.(49) Only those were left aside who excluded themselves because of their own self-sufficiency, such as certain Pharisees. And he warned us solemnly: we will be judged on the attitude we have toward the stranger or the least of his brothers; for, without our even knowing it, it is Christ himself whom we meet in them.(50)

Christ's resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost ushered in this new humanity. Incorporation into this new humanity comes through faith and Baptism, following the preaching of and free adherence to the Gospel. This Good News is meant for all races. "Make disciples of all nations."(51)

22. The Church has therefore the vocation in the midst of the world to be the people redeemed and reconciled with God and among themselves, forming "one body, one spirit in Christ,"(52) and giving witness before all to respect and love. "Every nation under heaven" was symbolically represented in Jerusalem at Pentecost,(53) the antitype and victory over the dispersion of Babel.(54) As Peter said, when he was called to the house of the pagan, Cornelius, "God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.... God shows no partiality...."(55) The Church has the sublime vocation of realizing, first of all within herself, the unity of humankind over and above any ethnic, cultural, national, social or other divisions in order to signify precisely that such divisions are now obsolete, having been abolished by the cross of Christ. In doing this, the Church contributes toward promoting the fraternal coexistence of all peoples. The Second Vatican Council has rightly defined the Church as "sacrament, a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men"(56) since "both Christ and the Church. . .transcend the distinctions of race and nationality."(57) Within the Church "no inequality arising from race or nationality, social condition or sex" should exist.(58) This is indeed the meaning of the word "Catholic"-i.e., universal, which is one of the marks of the Church. As the Church spreads, this catholicity becomes more manifest. The Church actually gathers together Christ's faithful from all the nations of the world, from the most diverse cultures, who are led by pastors from their own peoples, all sharing the same faith and the same charity.

The repeated failures due to people's insensibility and the sins of her own members can in no way weaken what the Church has the vocation and mission to accomplish by divine mandate. They confirm rather that it is not a human undertaking but a plan that surpasses merely human forces. In any case, it is important that Christians become more aware that they are all called to be a sign in the world. Should they banish all forms of racial, ethnic, national or cultural discrimination from their conduct, the world would recognize better the newness of the Gospel of reconciliation in the Church, they must anticipate the eschatological and definitive community of the Kingdom of God.

23. The Christian teaching, which has just been presented, has in fact serious moral consequences which can be summarized in three key words: respect for differences, fraternity, solidarity.

If people and human communities are all equal in dignity, that does not mean that they all have, at a given moment, equal physical abilities, cultural endowments, intellectual and moral strengths, or that they are at the same stage of development. Equality does not mean uniformity. It is important to recognize the diversity and complementarity of one another's cultural riches and moral qualities. Equality of treatment therefore implies a certain recognition of differences which minorities themselves demand in order to develop according to their own specific characteristics, in respect for others and for the common good of society and the world community. No human group, however, can boast of having a natural superiority over others,(59) or of exercising any discrimination that affects the basic rights of the person.

Mutual respect is not enough: fraternity must be established. The dynamism necessary for such fraternity is none other than charity, which is also very much at the heart of the Christian message: "Every man is my brother."(60) Charity is not just a simple feeling of benevolence or pity. It aims at enabling each and every one to benefit effectively from worthy conditions of life due in justice: for survival, freedom and development in all circumstances. It makes a person see him or herself, in Christ, in every other man and woman, according to the divine precept "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Recognition of fraternity is not enough. One must go on to effective solidarity between all, in particular between rich and poor. Pope John Paul II's recent encyclical, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (December 30, 1987), insists on interdependence "sensed as a system determining relationships in the contemporary world...and accepted as a moral category. When interdependence becomes recognized in this way, the correlative response as a moral and social attitude, as a 'virtue,' is solidarity."(61) Peace among people and nations is at stake: "Opus solidaritatis pax, peace is the fruit of solidarity."(62)

IV. Contribution of Christians, in Union with Others, to Promoting Fraternity and Solidarity Among Races

24. Racial prejudice, which denies the equal dignity of all the members of the human family and blasphemes the Creator, can only be eradicated by going to its roots, where it is formed: in the human heart. It is from the heart that just or unjust behavior is born,(63) according to whether persons are open to God's will-in the natural order and in the Living Word-or whether they close themselves up in those egoisms dictated by fear or the instinct of domination. It is the way we look at others that must be purified. Harboring racist thoughts and entertaining racist attitudes is a sin against the specific message of Christ for whom one's "neighbor" is not only a person from my tribe, my milieu, my religion or my nation: it is every person that I meet along the way.

It is not through external means-legislation or scientific proofs-that racial prejudice can be uprooted. It is indeed not enough that laws prohibit or punish all types of racial discrimination: these laws can easily be gotten around if the community for which they are intended does not fully accept them. To overcome discrimination, a community must interiorize the values that inspire just laws and live out, in day-to-day life, the conviction of the equal dignity of all.

25. A change of heart cannot occur without strengthening spiritual convictions regarding respect for other races and ethnic groups. The Church, on its part, contributes to forming consciences by clearly presenting the entire Christian doctrine on this subject. She particularly asks pastors, preachers, teachers and catechists to explain the true teaching of Scripture and Tradition about the origin of all people in God, their final common destiny in the Kingdom of God, the value of the precept of fraternal love, and the total incompatibility between racist exclusivism and the universal calling of all to the same salvation in Jesus Christ. Recourse to the Bible to justify a posteriori any racist prejudice must be firmly denounced. The Church has never authorized any such deformed interpretation of Scripture.

The Church's persuasive task is equally carried out through the witness of life of Christians: respect for foreigners, acceptance of dialogue, sharing, mutual aid and collaboration with other ethnic groups. The world needs to see this parable in action among Christians in order to be convinced by Christ's message. Of course, Christians themselves must humbly admit that members of the Church, on all levels, have not always coherently lived out this teaching throughout history. Nonetheless, they must continue to proclaim what is right while seeking to "do" the truth.(64)

26. Doctrine and examples by themselves are not sufficient. The victims of racism, wherever they may be, must be defended. Acts of discrimination among persons and peoples for racist or other reasons-religious or ideological-and which lead to contempt and to the phenomena of exclusion, must be denounced and brought to light without hesitation and strongly rejected in order to promote equitable behavior, legislative dispositions and social structures.

An increasing number of people have become more sensitive to this injustice and are opposing all forms of racism. They may be doing so out of religious conviction or for humanitarian reasons. This inspires them at times to stand up against repression by certain powers, or at least against the pressures of a sectarian public opinion, and to face scorn and imprisonment. Christians do not hesitate, with the necessary discernment, to assume their responsibilities in this struggle for the dignity of their brothers and sisters, always showing a preference for non-violent means.(65)

27. In her denunciations of racism, however, the Church tries to maintain an evangelical attitude with regard to all. This is undoubtedly her particular gift. While she is not afraid to examine lucidly the evils of racism and disapprove of them, even to those who are responsible for them, she also seeks to understand how these people could have reached that point. She would like to help them find a reasonable way out of the impasse in which they find themselves. Just as God does not take pleasure at the death of a sinner,(66) the Church aspires more to helping them if they consent to remedy the injustice committed. She is also concerned with preventing victims from having recourse to violent struggle and thus falling into a racism similar to that which they are rejecting. The Church wishes to be a place for reconciliation and does not want to heighten opposition. She invites all to act in such a way that hatred be banished. She preaches love. She patiently prepares a change in mentality without which structural changes would be in vain.

28. In the formation of a non-racist conscience, the role of schools is primordial. The Magisterium of the Church has always highlighted the importance of an education that stresses what is common to all. It is also important to show that others, precisely because they are different, can enrich our experience. While it is normal, for instance, for history to cultivate esteem for one's country, it is regrettable that it can lead to a blind chauvinism and to according only a secondary place to the achievements of other nations, considered inferior. As has already been done in some countries, it may be necessary to revise scholastic texts which falsify history, pass over the historical misdeeds of racism in silence or justify the principles behind it. In the same way, civic education must be conceived in such a way so as to uproot discriminatory reflexes toward persons belonging to other ethnic groups. More and more, the school provides the occasion for the children of immigrants to mix with the children of the receiving country. Hopefully this will provide an opportunity to help both groups to know one another better and to prepare a more harmonious coexistence.

In addition, many young people today seem to be less prone to racial prejudice. This provides a hope for the future which must be fostered. On the other hand, it is regrettable to see other young people organized into gangs in order to commit acts of violence against certain racial groups, or turning sports events into chauvinistic demonstrations which end up in vandalism or massacres. Unless they are ideologically nurtured, racial prejudices most often come from ignorance about others which gives full vent to imagination and engenders fear. There is no lack of occasions today for accustoming young people to respect and esteem for differences: international exchanges, travel, language courses, the twinning of cities, vacation camps, international schools, sports and cultural activities.

29. Persuasion and education must be coupled with the will to translate respect for other ethnic groups into legislation and into the structures and functioning of regional or national institutions.

Racism will disappear from legal texts only when it dies in people's hearts. However, there must also be direct action in the legislative field. Wherever discriminatory laws still exist, the citizens who are aware of the perversity of this ideology must assume their responsibilities so that, through democratic processes, legislation will be put in harmony with the moral law. Within a given State, the law must be equal for all citizens without distinction. A dominant group, whether numerically in the majority or minority, can never do as it likes with the basic rights of other groups. It is important for ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities who live within the borders of the same State, to enjoy recognition of the same inalienable rights as other citizens, including the right to live together according to their specific cultural and religious characteristics. Their choice to be integrated into the surrounding culture must be a free one.(67)

The status of other citizens or persons, such as immigrants or refugees, or temporary foreign workers, is often more precarious. It is all the more urgent that their basic human rights be recognized and guaranteed. It is precisely these people who are most often the victims of racial prejudice. The law must take care to check any act of aggressivity toward them as well as the conduct of anyone—employers, functionaries or private individuals—who attempts to subject these more vulnerable persons to various forms of exploitation, be it economic or other.

Of course, it is up to the public powers who are responsible for the common good to determine the number of refugees or immigrants which their country can accept, taking into consideration its possibilities for employment and its perspectives for development but also the urgency of the need of other people. The State must also see to it that a serious social imbalance is not created which would be accompanied by sociological phenomena of rejection such as those which can occur when an overly heavy concentration of persons from another culture is perceived as directly threatening the identity and customs of the local community that receives them. In the apprenticeship to difference, everything cannot be expected all at once, but the possibilities for new ways of living together and even of mutual enrichment must be considered. Once a foreigner is admitted to a country and accepts the rules of public order, he or she has the right to protection by the law for the entire duration of his or her stay there.

In the same way, labor legislation should not permit that, for equal work, non-citizens who have found employment in a country should offer discrimination compared to native-born workers with regard to salary, social security and old age insurance. It is precisely in work relations that a better knowledge about, and mutual acceptance of, persons from different ethnic and cultural origins should grow, and a human solidarity be built which is capable of overcoming earlier prejudices.

30. On the international level, it is important to continue to draw up juridical instruments to overcome racism and, above all, to make them fully effective. After the excesses of Nazism, the United Nations committed itself wholeheartedly to respect for persons and peoples.(68) An important International Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination was adopted by the Twentieth General Assembly of the United Nations on December 21, 1965. Among other things it stipulates that "there is no justification for racial discrimination in theory or in practice, anywhere" (Preamble, _6). It also foresees legislative and judicial measures for enacting these provisions. It came into force on January 4, 1969, and the Holy See formally ratified it on May 1st of the same year.

The United Nations also decided on November 2, 1973, to proclaim a "Decade to combat racism and racial discrimination." Pope Paul VI immediately expressed "his lively interest" and "deep satisfaction" for this new initiative:

"This pre-eminently human undertaking will once again find the Holy See and the United Nations in close accord-albeit on different levels and with different means."(69)

Since 1946, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) has had a Commission on Human Rights, which, in turn, set up a Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

The Holy See's contribution continued through the participation of its delegations in several important manifestations of the Decade, and also in other inter-governmental meetings.(70) Since then a second "Decade" has been proclaimed (1983-1993).

31. These efforts by the Holy See, as a duly recognized member of the international community, must not be considered in isolation from the many and diverse efforts of Christian communities around the world nor from the personal commitment of Christians in civil institutions.

In this context, special mention could be made of the contribution of various episcopates across the world. One could cite, by way of example, the efforts made by the bishops of two countries which have experienced the problems of racism in a particularly acute, if albeit, different way.

The first example is that of the United States of America, where racial discrimination had been maintained in the legislation of several states long after the Civil War (1861-1865). It was only in 1964 that the Civil Rights Law put an end to all forms of legally practiced discrimination. This represented a considerable step forward, matured over a long period and marked by numerous initiatives of a non-violent nature. The Catholic Church, especially through its extensive educational system, as well as through the declarations of the episcopate, contributed to this process.(71)

Despite on-going efforts, much still remains to be done to completely eliminate racial prejudice and behavior even in what can be considered one of the most interracial nations of the world. Proof of this is the statement adopted by the Administrative Board of the United States Catholic Conference on March 26, 1987, which pointed out the persistence of signs of racism in American society and condemned the activity of racist organizations such as the "Ku Klux Klan."

The second example is that of the Church in South Africa, faced with quite a different situation. The commitment of the; South African bishops, very often in close collaboration with the other Christian Churches, to racial equality and against apartheid is well known. In this regard, the following more recent documents of the Episcopal Conference could be mentioned: Pastoral letter published on May 1, 1986, with the significant title: "Christian Hope in the Current Crisis"(72) and the Message addressed to the Head of State in August, 1986.(73)

The situation in South Africa has given rise, across the world, to manifestations of solidarity with those who suffer because of apartheid as well as in support of ecclesial initiatives.(74)

Furthermore, these initiatives are frequently carried out ecumenically. Pope John Paul II, for his part, has repeatedly expressed his concern to the Catholic bishops of South Africa.(75)

On September 10, 1988, during his visit to Southern Africa, the pope addressed all the bishops of the region, gathered in Harare, and said to them in particular: "The question of apartheid, understood as a system of social, economic and political discrimination, engages your mission as teachers and spiritual guides of your flocks in a necessary and determined effort to counteract injustices and to advocate the replacement of that policy with one consistent with justice and love. I encourage you to continue to hold firmly and courageously to the principles which are at the basis of a peaceful and just response to the legitimate aspirations of all your fellow-citizens.

"I am aware of the attitudes expressed over the years by the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, from the first corporate statement of 1952. The Holy See and I myself have drawn attention to the injustices of apartheid on numerous occasions, and most recently before an ecumenical group of Christian leaders from South Africa on a visit to Rome. To them I recalled that `since reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel, Christians cannot accept structures of racial discrimination which violate human rights. But they must also realize that a change of structures is linked to a change of hearts. The changes they seek are rooted in the power of love, the Divine Love from which every Christian action and transformation springs' (Address to a Joint Ecumenical Delegation from South Africa, May 27, 1988)."(76)

32. Lastly, if racism troubles the peace of societies, it also poisons international peace. Where there is no justice on this major issue, violence and wars easily break out, and relations with neighboring nations are disturbed.

In relations between States, a faithful application of the principles of the equal dignity of all peoples should exclude that certain nations be treated by others on the basis of racial prejudices. In tensions between States, certain political decisions of an adversary can be condemned, as well as unjust behavior on one or another given point, or possibly the failure to keep a promise, but a people cannot be globally condemned for what is often the fault of its leaders. It is through such primary, irrational reactions that racial prejudices can get the upper hand and poison relations between nations in a lasting way.

The international community does not have any means of coercion at its disposal with regard to States which, through their legal system, still practice racial discrimination toward their own peoples. Nevertheless, international law does allow for appropriate external pressure to be exercised in their regard, to lead them, according to an organic and negotiated plan, to abolish racist legislation in favor of a legislation in conformity with human rights. However, the international community must take the greatest care in these delicate situations, lest its action precipitate the country concerned into even more dramatic internal conflicts.

As for countries where serious racial tensions exist, they must become aware of the precariousness of a peace which does not rest on the consensus of all the society's components. History shows that the prolonged failure to recognize human rights almost always ends in outbreaks of uncontrollable violence. In order to establish an order based on law, antagonist groups must let themselves be won over by supreme and transcendent values which are the basis of all human communities and all peaceful relations among nations.

Conclusion

33. The effort to overcome racism does in fact seem to have become an imperative which is broadly anchored in human consciences. The 1965 U.N. Convention expressed this conviction forcefully: "Any doctrine of superiority based on the difference between races is scientifically false, morally condemnable and socially unjust and dangerous."(77) The Church's doctrine affirms it with no less vigor: all racist theories are contrary to Christian faith and love. And yet, in sharp contrast to this growing awareness of human dignity, racism still exists and continually reappears in different forms. It is a wound in humanity's side that mysteriously remains open. Everyone, therefore, must make efforts to heal it with great firmness and patience.

There is no question, however, of grouping everything together. There are different degrees and forms of racism. Racism as such is applied to contempt for a race characterized by its ethnic origin, color or language. Today apartheid is the most marked and systematic form of this: change is absolutely necessary and urgent here. There are, however, many other forms of exclusion and rejection for which the reason invoked is not race, but which have similar effects. All forms of discrimination must be firmly opposed. It would be hypocritical to point a finger at only one country: rejection based on race exists on every continent. Many practice a discrimination in fact which they abhor in law.

Respect for every person and every race is respect for basic rights, dignity and fundamental equality. This does not mean erasing cultural differences. Instead it is important to educate to a positive appreciation of the complementary diversity of peoples. A well-understood pluralism resolves the problem of closed racism.

Racism and racist acts must be condemned. The application of legislative, disciplinary and administrative measures, or even appropriate external pressure, can be timely. Countries and international organizations have at their disposal a whole range of initiatives to be taken or encouraged. It is equally the responsibility of the citizens concerned, but without, for that reason, going so far as to replace violently one unjust situation with another injustice.

Constructive solutions must always he envisaged.

The Catholic Church encourages all these efforts. The Holy See has its role to play in the context of its specific mission. All Catholics are invited to work concretely side by side with other Christians and all others who have this same respect for persons. The Church wants first and foremost to change racist attitudes, including those within her own communities. She appeals first of all to the moral and religious sense of people. She states exigencies but uses fraternal persuasion, her only weapon. She asks God to change hearts. She offers a place for reconciliation. She would like to see promoted initiatives of welcome, of exchange and of mutual assistance as regards men and women belonging to other ethnic groups. Her mission is to give soul to this immense undertaking of human fraternity. Despite the sinful limitations of her members, yesterday and today, she is aware of having been constituted a witness to Christ's charity on earth, a sign and instrument of the unity of humankind. The message she proposes to everyone, and which she tries to live is: "Every person is my brother or sister."

November 3, 1988
Liturgical Memorial of St. Martin of Porres
(Born in Lima of a Spanish father and a black slave mother)
Roger Cardinal Etchegaray
President
Pontifical Commission Justice and Peace
Jorge Mejia
Vice President
Pontifical Commission Justice and Peace


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