The title of the pope's World Day of Peace message is “Good politics at the service of peace.” This day will be held on January 1.
In the text Pope Francis denounces that corruption and other “vices” of politics “bring disgrace to public life and threaten social harmony.” The pope asks that politics be understood as a service to the common good.
He also criticizes the strategies used to instill terror in populations and threats because they reduce the other to “the status of objects and to deny their dignity.”
Pope Francis is very clear on another point: migrations. He says that “Political addresses that tend to blame every evil on migrants and to deprive the poor of hope are unacceptable.”
The pope also referred to two influential figures. On the one hand, he quotes the French writer Charles Péguy when he recalls how fragile it is to preserve peace. On the other hand, he cites the “Beatitudes of the Politician” list written by the Vietnamese cardinal Vãn Thuận, who suffered persecution by the communist regime.
