JUSTICE, PEACE AND THE INTEGRITY OF CREATION
AND
PLAN FOR LIFE AND MISSION IN A FRANCISCAN PERSPECTIVE
Fourth European Congress of JPIC Animators
(Saint Anna, Poland, April 29, 2010)
Fr. José Rodríguez Carballo, ofm
OFM Minister General
The world is the home where we are invited to live in profound fraternal communion with
the men and women of our time, as well as with all of creation. However, it must be cared for and
built up in such a way that it is transformed into a home of universal fraternity, where all have a
place and where fraternal relations, marked by deep respect, exist between humanity and creation.
The 2003 General Chapter placed "the preaching of reconciliation, peace and justice, and
respect for creation" among the essential elements of our form of life, right next to “the spirit of
prayer and devotion, fraternal fellowship, penance, minority, and announcement of the Gospel” (cf.
GGCC 1.2). Thus it has taken an important step in considering justice, peace and integrity of
creation (JPIC) as values that form part of what we could well call our Franciscan DNA.
In my presentation to this Fourth European Congress of JPIC Animators I want to highlight
some personal convictions and some principles that can orient us in living the values that form the
basis of our commitment to JPIC.
JPIC Values – Rooted in the Gospel
First of all, I wish to underline what was affirmed in the final document of the 2009 General
Chapter, Bearers of the Gift of the Gospel (BGG): "The values of justice, peace and the integrity of
creation, which are values rooted in the Gospel, must be present naturally in our life of prayer and
devotion, and in our daily life and the exercise of our ministries" (BGG 30). To me it appears
important to underline two affirmations from this text: that the values of JPIC have their roots
planted firmly in the Gospel, and that precisely because of this they must be lived part of our
ordinary life. They should be "discerned in our daily practice" in the context of the "prayerful
reading of the Word," so that they become a natural aspect of our life and an integral part of our
spirituality, and truly nourishing for our life and mission (BGG 30).
With that said, I move to affirm a second principle/conviction: these values must be part of
both ongoing and initial formation. Our Ratio Formationis Francescanae (RFF) is an important
demonstration of this conviction and it is profoundly consistent in its constant references to the
need to be formed in JPIC/Gospel values. Speaking personally, I am fully convinced that JPIC
values can enter our life and mission only through the formation process and by paying it special
attention; they cannot be reduced to a simple statement of principles. Even less so, they cannot be
simple proposals of ideological principles or popular ideas. It is not enough to offer good
academic courses. These values must be lived as demands of our life and mission.
A third principle/conviction is that these values of JPIC are closely linked one to the other.
They are animated by an attitude of minority, which is an expression of our living sine propio. It is
not possible to live one fully without living the others as well. Nor can one promote justice and
peace or care for creation without feeling and acting as a “lesser one.” This requirement entails the
removal of every pretension of control or heavy-handedness over others and over creation without being passive in face of anything that is contrary to these values. Our General
Constitutions are clear in this respect. They ask us to be "promoters of justice and as messengers
and agents of peace, overcoming evil and doing good” (GGCC 68.1).
Both our experience and the Magisterium in recent years have shown that in most cases the
cause of injustice and violence is poverty. At the same time poverty is often caused by injustice. It
is a vicious circle: poverty engenders violence, and the lack of justice causes poverty and more
violence. To combat this situation, therefore, it is necessary to fight both injustice and poverty. As
the psalmist says: "justice and peace shall kiss" (Psalm 85, 10).
In promoting peace, friars in every age have been opposed to the evil of war, to different
forms of human exploitation and to the exploitation of nature by humans. We also find opposition
to all types of marginalization, destruction and oppression (cf. GGCC 68.1), and attempts to
promote reconciliation (cf. GGCC 70). Our actions for JPIC in today’s world should continue this
in this tradition.
Having elaborated these principles, I will now highlight some aspects of JPIC from a
Franciscan perspective. I will take into account our legislation as well as the final document of the
2009 Pentecost Chapter, Bearers of the Gift of the Gospel.
Heralds of Peace through Non-violence
We friars are called to combat violence through non-violence, using those means available
to the powerless. Our General Constitutions say this clearly: "In protecting the rights of the
oppressed, the friars are to renounce violent action and have recourse to means that are otherwise
available even to the powerless" (GGCC 69.1). The 2009 General Chapter invites all Entities of
the Order "to promote active non-violence in our lives, with particular emphasis on the resolution
of conflicts” (Chapter Mandates 43c).
How do we understand non-violence? What do we want to rule out when we speak of nonviolence?
Non-violence is not resignation in the face of evil, but active non-collaboration with evil
(ahimsa of Gandhi). Non-violence has a proactive aspect, born of the force of the truth (satiagraha
of Gandhi). The satiagrahi of Gandhi are those committed firmly to doing the truth and to
confessing the truth, not simply speaking it. In the Christian tradition these would be the
witnesses, the martyrs, all those who have testified to the truth with their lives. The very first of all
of these is Jesus himself. Non-violence has a price, including the price of one’s own life.
We can say, therefore, that non-violence is non-collaboration with violence and with deathdealing forces. With the force born of truth, non-violence promotes work that is good. Nonviolence is both resistance to and mission for. These two aspects are contemplated in the Beatitude
that declares blessed "the peacemakers". Without even forcing the biblical text one could translate
it as: "Blessed are they who build peace, by doing what is true and good". There is no place for
passivity, but it is a call for action, denouncing all types of warlike action and the arms race as a
serious injury to the poor. We can spare no effort in building up God’s kingdom (cf. GGCC 69.2).
Non-violence also calls for attention to all human life and also to creation. It begins with
those beings that already exist, but also considers those who are yet to come or who will not come
because they are seriously threatened. This requires attentive listening to those who have no voice
and to creation as well, taking seriously their condition and the threats that they are suffering. This
attentiveness supposes a real knowledge of the threats, in terms of both formation and information.
Only in this way will it be possible to offer an authoritative word in defense of humanity and of
creation.
Non-violence is readiness to change one’s self while working to change society. In this
sense, non-violence signifies surpassing the birthright complex of Cain, who claimed for himself
the dangerous first place, as the disciples did with Jesus. First place at times claims to be the
ONLY place, without taking others into account, and without understanding that creation was
entrusted to us to CARE for it, not to use it and abuse it for every human craving. At the level of
the individual, this birthright complex is expressed as pride; at the interpersonal level it is
expressed as superiority; in regard to nature its is expressed as capricious and disorderly
submission; and at the level of peoples it is expressed by domination. This complex endangers
both nature and humanity and does not result in peace.
Finally, non-violence signifies recovering the awareness of a universal fraternity. At the
existential level we must be concerned about achieving justice for all those treated unjustly and to
respect creation according to the plan of the Creator. This should be done in such a way that
creation is truly at the service of humanity, rather than rebelling against humanity for its lack of
respect.
Option for the Poor
The consecrated life in general, and Franciscan life in particular, have become more aware
of the need for a preferential option for the poor. This has come about due to a reflection on our
vow of poverty and to the demands of the new evangelization.
This option was already raised at Vatican II and has been adopted gradually by many local
churches and many religious. The assemblies of bishops at Medellin (1968) and Puebla (1979)
proclaimed it a priority for the Church. For us Franciscans it comes up repeatedly since Vatican II,
has found its place in the revised General Constitutions, and was openly proclaimed in the Plenary
Council of Bahia in 1985.
The document Bearers of the Gift of the Gospel” is in perfect continuity with the preceding
reflection. It affirms: "We cannot turn our backs on the future of the world" and "We cannot draw
up a Fraternal Plan of Life and Evangelizing Mission without social awareness" (BGG 29); it also
states: "The spirituality that nourishes our life and evangelizing mission is never foreign to the life
of our peoples and what concerns them" (BGG 30). We can also include in this context the
mandate of General Chapter 2009 which directs us to "Pay special attention to the excluded of our
society […], with a particular commitment to the defense and promotion of human rights" (Chapter
Mandates 43d).
We cannot close our eyes to the reality of poverty that affects so many millions of human
beings, and need to understand the truth of poverty in all its dimensions: extreme poverty,
oppression, its victims, and social exclusion with its consequent violence and disintegration. We
must also know the mystery of poverty. When we submerge ourselves in the world of poverty
(inner-city or rural), we cannot explain or describe everything. We meet a poverty culture, with the
values lived by the poor: their capacity for resistance, solidarity, hope and celebration (that
tremendous mystery that always characterizes the hope and happiness of the poor). This is the
experience of the Gospel and of life with God among the poor. There are many other mysteries
that are part of this world that we will never fully understand.
After coming to know the reality of poverty in all its breadth and mystery, we must carry
out an extensive theological reflection on poverty as sin and, above all, as structural sin, for which
we are all in some way personally responsible.
Speaking of sin I want to add something which I believe is important. When speaking of
sin in this context I refer not so much to transgressions against the law, but principally to a radical
rejection of God’s love, of God’s kingdom and of God’s grace within our history. In fact, a
Christian response at times can lead us to break the law, even a constitutional law (like respect for
life in all its dimensions). The sin of which we speak is fundamentally social sin (which does not
exclude individual responsibility). It is, therefore, the structural and collective refusal of the love
of God and of the kingdom of God. Poverty, above all when it is extreme and leads to total
exclusion from the system, becomes the visible expression of rejecting God.
We can say, therefore, that the option for the poor is not an option against anyone; rather it
is against the poverty that contradicts God’s plan. And we can likewise say that opting for the poor
is opting for a loving God, for the God of family, and for the kingdom of God which is a kingdom
of justice and peace. For us, in this way, the option for the poor is synonymous with a conversion
to our God of love and to the values of the kingdom. It is true that it is not an exclusive option nor,
even less, that it is an option that excludes (since all are recipients of the good news). Nevertheless
this option must arise from the perspective of the poor who are "our teachers" (GGCC 93.1), in
whom the image of God has been trampled (cf. Puebla Document 1142). This change of
perspective is an important dimension of the pastoral conversion to which we are called.
Another important point for us Franciscans is that the option for the poor is not so much a
social option (although it has social repercussions), but a Christological one. The final document
of General Chapter 2009 affirms this: "By the incarnation, the Word places himself on the side of
the periphery, of vulnerability, of poverty" (BGG 23). Placing ourselves on the side of the poor,
and even more alongside the poor, we are called to recognize in them the poor and crucified Christ,
whom the Seraphic Father Saint Francis always wanted to follow, since the poor are the
"sacrament of the Son of God, who was poor and a stranger" (BGG 23). Is this not, perhaps, an
updating of Francis’ embrace of the poor and crucified Christ in his embrace of the leper?
In this option - which is not optional for those of us who have promised to follow Jesus
Christ more closely (cf. GGCC 5.2) - we must distinguish between inserted communities among
the poor and the option for the poor. Not all feel called to live on the margin, to inhabit the border
regions or the inhuman cloisters (cf. BGG 22; cf. also May the Lord give you Peace, 37). But we
must all be at the side of the poor. This supposes, among others things, an attempt to see reality
from their perspective in order to make decisions in their favor (cf. GGCC 97.1).
This does not mean that one need not be mindful of the place from which one evangelizes.
In reading the signs of the times we must also read the signs of the places. Although the message
might be the same, the witness and credibility will surely be distinct.
The 1973 General Chapter of Madrid was already conscious of this distinction. In its final
document, The Vocation of the Order Today (VOT), it invited us to see “how we can…maintain the
essentials of the choice of our poverty" in a socio-economic situation different from that of the time
of Saint Francis. While the concrete ways through which we demonstrate our poverty surely
change and are brought up to date in view of new times, locations and regions, the essential
remains. For that reason, as the Madrid Chapter states, we must be attentive today, just as the
brothers were in the past, to the temptation of becoming comfortable: "In the past, the Order […]
has always reacted, with greater or lesser force, to the tendency to become too well established.
We are all invited to seek how to express this same exigency today…It is in this direction, having
regard for local situations, that we should search in order to learn to live like the little ones of
today" (VOT 22).
It is this principle, along with a desire to “play a role of challenge within a society largely
geared to production and consumption” (VOT 23), which moved the last generals chapters to
insist on the need "to dwell within the fissures of a fragmented world" (BGG 22); on the need to
make possible our Gospel presence among people who, because of destitution and violence, have
had to leave their countries of origin (cf. BGG 23); on the need to reaffirm our vocation to be
"lesser brothers among the least" (cf. The Lord Speaks with Us on the Road, 30); and on the need
to allow ourselves to be challenged by the signs of the times and places (cf. BGG 29). For this
reason a section was included in the RFF that speaks of insertion, or of incarnating ourselves "in
the concrete situations of the people among whom we live," in order to discover in them "the
different faces of Christ" (cf. RFF 33).
Why this insistence? There is no doubt that inserted communities make it easier to
participate more closely in "the joys and the hopes, the grief and the anxieties” of the people of
this age (cf. Gaudium et Spes 1). They also provide true "fraternal fellowship with all the lowly of
the earth” (GGCC 97.2), and become “a particularly eloquent sign of restoration in this world
where only the flow of money, goods and services get free passage, but not persons, much less the
poor" (BGG 23). Insertion brings us closer to reality, and this proximity (always illuminated by
faith, as requested by General Chapter 2006) enables us to give Gospel-based answers to the signs
of the times and places, where the Spirit continues to speak to us and awaits our response (cf. BGG
14).
When the Order invites us to authentic and serious insertion, it is not promoting some sort
of escapism into the future or one more adventure. Insertion, carried out in faith, is a way to give
continuity to the choice made by the Word in the incarnation, and to the choice made by Francis
upon becoming a lesser brother. From this perspective, insertion entails a profound renewal of the
consecrated life, including a renewal of prayer and fraternity.
Builders of a More Just World
The option for the poor is intimately tied to a commitment for justice. Solidarity with the
least, for reasons based on the Gospel, leads us to uncover the trauma of injustice found in our
societies, along with the causes of social inequality that affect so many of our sisters and brothers.
If we look closely, poverty and injustice appear to be the consequences of decisions that are made
based solely on economic benefit. From the perspective of possessions, these decisions
marginalize the poorest. From the perspective of power, they marginalize the majority of people
who do not participate in the decision-making. From the perspective of knowledge, the doors are
closed to the majority.
The cry of the poor and marginalized should be heard by those in consecrated life,
especially by Franciscans. We must distance ourselves from every form of injustice, and seek “to
awaken consciences to the drama of misery and to the demands of social justice made by the
Gospel and the Church” (Evangelica Testificatio 18). We are called "to build bridges of dialogue,
of encounter, of reconciliation and peace; to be messengers of the culture of life in the whole range
of its development; to be, finally, guardians of hope" (BGG 30).
Contrary to much of the talk we hear today, we live in a world where certain small groups
seek justice only for themselves. Consequently the gap between north and south grows; the
situation of the many worsens; and pockets of poverty become ever-larger. As John Paul II noted
repeatedly, the abundance and waste of resources in rich countries corresponds to an unacceptable
underdevelopment in the countries of the south, where a large part of the population lives (cf.
Solicitudo Rei Socialis 14).
A constant theme in both the Old and New Testaments is that God awakens the consciences
of believers by way of the poor, i.e., those who suffer the consequences of injustice and poverty.
From Abraham to our day, God hears the cries of the poor (cf. Ex 3, 7. 10), seeks justice for them
(cf. Is 58, 6-7) and defends them (cf. Is 11, 1-9). God proclaims the Good News to them in a
special way (cf. Lk 4, 16-19), and through them God makes the Good News understandable for all
(cf. 1Cor 1, 16-32). In hearing the voice of the poor, the Christian conscience hears the cry of a
child of God, of a brother or sister in whom the image of the Creator has been obscured.
At present the cry of the poor, together with a critical analysis of society illumined by our
faith, has allowed us to recognize the existence of social sin in the structures that are the fruit of
free human enterprise. In these structures individual sin is made visible, the source and root of
injustice (cf. Benedict XVI, Lenten Message 2010).
Those in consecrated life, and we Franciscans, must be committed to work for justice by
virtue of our identity as “least among the least of the earth”. From this perspective, our witness in
favor of justice begins with a serious review of our lifestyle, both individually and fraternally.
Otherwise we run the risk of falling into pure ideology, or for that matter, into a manipulation of
the very things or persons we say we wish to defend. How can we proclaim justice or denounce
injustice if in our midst the former receives no attention and the latter is not combated? If by
profession we are all equals, with the same rights and responsibilities (cf. GGCC 3.1), how can we
justify situations of inequality in our own fraternities? How can we combat injustice when wasteful
consumerism exists in our midst and causes us to turn our backs on situations of poverty that are
very near us?
Only if we are prepared to change our lifestyle radically will we be able to defend those
who suffer tremendous injustice, who live in misery and are marginalized, who lack basic human
rights like that of personal dignity. Among these people are included refugees, those persecuted
for political reasons and those deprived of liberty.
While we work at changing our lifestyle, we are also called to do everything possible to
help the poor become aware of their human dignity and to fight that their dignity be respected. An
important task for us in this vein is to promote the self awareness of those who suffer injustice.
Only in this way will they become fully conscious of their human dignity, and be able to assert
their rights and defend them (cf. GGCC 97.2). Finally, through our social activities, chosen
according to current needs, we show true solidarity with those who are in material and spiritual
need (cf. VOT 24). We proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom through our witness to and our
promotion of justice.
Caretakers of Creation
For many, both believers and non-believers, and for the Church itself, Francis of Assisi is
an example of maximum respect for Creation. He was an ecologist before the word came into
vogue. But we must say that the Poverello of God is not just any ecologist, and that therefore he
cannot be called the patron saint of just any sort of ecology. Francis is an ecologist of faith and his
ecology is deeply theological. Creation reminded him of God, who created it. At the same time,
he was well aware of the responsibility to care for and to be a steward of creation. This gift of God
to humanity needs to be taken care of, just as one takes care of anything that is precious. Creation
is so very precious to Francis because it is a sign or sacrament of the Creator (cf. Canticle of the
Creatures).
Today creation is seriously threatened. Because she herself senses this, she is rising in
rebellion against humanity. The frequency and magnitude of the many natural phenomena we are
experiencing attest to this. The harmony that God desires between humanity and creation (which
Francis praised in his Canticle of the Creatures), has diminished dramatically. The increase of
carbon dioxide (CO2) to its highest levels in the last 800,000 years has raised temperatures and is
causing global warming. It is endangering glaciers, and is raising the ocean level at a rate of 3.3
mm (0.13 inches) per year. Large tracts of the earth are becoming desert, undoing the garden of
“diverse fruits and colorful flowers and plants” made by the hand of the Creator. In ever-growing
areas of the planet, we can no longer call water “pure and chaste.” It has been polluted by
indiscriminate disposal of toxic waste from industry. This makes life difficult for human beings
and many species of animals as well. The air no longer sustains God’s creatures due to gross
pollution and smog. Fire is no longer simply “beautiful and happy,” but too often devastates huge
areas of nature. Irresponsible human conduct, the avarice of industrial society and consumerism
are destroying the environment and placing human survival in jeopardy.
Given this situation, what can we do? Our General Constitutions state that “following
closely in the footsteps of Saint Francis, the friars are to maintain a reverent attitude towards
nature, threatened from all sides today, in such a way that they may restore it completely to its
condition of brother and to its role of usefulness to all humanity for the glory of God the Creator”
(GGCC 71). The citation clearly shows what the attitude of a Friar Minor should be in regard to
creation, and it is an invitation to have respect for it.
Aware of the great philosophical and theological tradition that arises from the experience of
Saint Francis, we Friars Minor must “extend our fraternal concern” to creation (cf. VOT 25), be in
communion and brotherhood with it, and treat it with reverence. Creation is a gift that we have
received freely through the love of God. We are called to humanize it through a dominion which
will make it totally fraternal, at the service of all. In this way, we will show the underlying reason
for our respectful attitude toward creation: it originates from Love, which gives it meaning. Its
meaning lies in the emergence of a fraternal humanity, gathered in Christ, through whom and for
whom the world was created (cf. Col 1, 16; VOT 25).
Toward a Life Plan and Mission Consistent with JPIC Values
On more than one occasion, I have referred to the need to change our lifestyle to make it
consistent with the JPIC values that we are called to defend. We are called to make our preaching
credible for the people of our time. If we want our words to be more than hollow proclamation,
our goal requires that we live these JPIC values more consistently on a daily basis. As in all aspects
of our life, we must overcome any dichotomy between what we say and what we do.
We Friars Minor must surely denounce all that works against peace and wounds our
peaceful coexistence with creation. But we are also called to a serious reflection on our own
everyday life, which can consciously or unconsciously distance us from the JPIC that we preach.
This requires of us a Life Plan. It should be personal and fraternal, something we might
truly call ecological, based on a relational anthropology and an ethics of simplicity, moderation
and frugality. It should be a response to the exploitation and squandering of the environment. It
presumes respect for natural resources and knowledge of how to enjoy the simple things of life,
avoiding the superfluous and the wasteful. If current consumerism has become a lifestyle and an
insatiable thirst for devouring everything, it is even more urgent that we achieve an asceticism of
life, which for us will be a form of liberation and responsibility. We also need austerity and
frugality to realize our commitment to living “without anything of our own,” and to promote a
humanizing and restorative style of life.
In our relationship with others and with creation itself, our lifestyle should be characterized
by minority. We should constantly present ourselves, individually and fraternally, as lesser ones
and servants, as those whom no one fears because we do not seek to dominate or impose ourselves
on others, looking only to serve (cf. Mt 20, 28). Such an attitude demands that we have a childlike
spirit, a spirit of littleness and simplicity (cf. VOT 19).
A plan of life and mission in these keys demands that we continue to try to live as children,
as little ones, as lesser ones, to share the situation of the poor and of the victims of violence and
injustice. We cannot accept any situation that keeps our neighbor in these conditions. Rather,
together with them, we want to be the yeast for a new society (cf. Rm 11, 12).
All of this will be possible if the values of which we are speaking are fully integrated into
the ongoing and initial formation of the friars. With such an attitude we can also better understand
the RFF where it affirms: “Formation to the gospel life of the Friar Minor – to the spirit of prayer
and devotion, to the life of fraternal communion, to penance and minority, to poverty and
solidarity, to evangelization and mission, to action towards reconciliation, peace and justice – is
an organic, gradual and consistent process that is developed on the personal and community levels
during the whole of life” (RFF 62).
Among the JPIC values that are transverse to the entire formative process I would highlight
the following:
 Education/formation to a culture of life, peace and non-violence.
 Development that leads to real human progress and not simply to the enrichment of a few.
 An economy marked by justice and solidarity.
 Promotion of non-violent solutions to conflict.
 Acceptance of the other, pluriculturalism.
 Defense of the environment.
(cf. RFF 227; Ratio Studiorum OFM 60, 142, 148). Growth in the ability to live these values
should serve as a criterion for vocational discernment (cf. RFF 215).
In the formation that we receive and that we give, there should be an interplay between a
culture of the Beatitudes and a culture of oppression; between the transmission of a universal and
fraternal spirit and one characterized by a ghetto mentality and individualism. Our Franciscan
spirituality offers an excellent base for formation to a spirit of universality, based on a solidarity
that extends to all of humanity and creation. It is the foundation for peace based on non-violence.
Conclusion
At this Fourth European Congress of JPIC Animators, I have no doubt in affirming that the
best service that a JPIC animator can offer to the friars of an entity is to help them become aware
of all that we have just heard. In short, help them to understand that the values of JPIC are part of
our form of life; that we must strive to live all of them in conjunction and in the spirit of minority;
and that the work of JPIC must begin in our own lives. Only in this way will we be “witnesses”
and not simply “teachers;” only in this way will we be true protagonists of justice, peace and the
integrity of creation, “overcoming evil and doing good” (GGCC 68.1; cf. 68.2).