CIDSE welcomes Pope Francis’ first Encyclical, Lumen Fidei, reminding us all of the role of faith as a force that calls for just forms of government, as a force that helps us see development beyond utility and profit, as a force that strengthens mutual trust in societies.
As an international alliance of Catholic development agencies working together for global justice, CIDSE sees a need to re-think development. We come to realize that achieving global justice means addressing failures in the current models of development and sustainability. Even the very term of development is too often tied to GDP growth and consumerism.
CIDSE applauds the new Encyclical directing us to think differently about the meaning of progress and human flourishing. Faith helps us respect nature and calls us to devise models of development which are not based on ‘utility or profit’, but on gratitude for the gift of creation, and calls us to develop just forms of government for the service of the common good.
Press release by CIDSE member organisation CAFOD on the Encyclical Lumen Fidei