Dear brothers and sisters of Rosario,

I am reminded at this moment of a verse from the Gospel of Matthew: "Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt 5:9). It is one of the beatitudes. And at a time of crisis, such as those experienced by the city of Rosario, we understand the need for the presence of the security forces to bring peace to the community. However, we know that the path to peace requires complex and integral responses, with the collaboration of all the institutions that make up the life of a society. It is necessary to strengthen the community. Every people has within itself the tools to overcome that which attacks its integrity, the lives of its weakest children. The community must be strengthened against those who attack you. No person of goodwill can feel or be excluded from the great task of making Rosario a place where everyone can feel brothers and sisters.

Without the complicity of a sector of political, judicial, economic, financial and police power, it would not be possible to end up in the situation in which the city of Rosario finds itself. There is a need for a “renewed appreciation of politics as a ‘lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good” (Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti, no. 180). All political sectors are required to embark on the great path of consensus and dialogue to generate laws and public policies that accompany a process of recovery of the social fabric. Alternating administrations must support the continuity of processes of change. It is necessary to work not only on the supply, but also on the demand for drugs, through prevention and assistance policies. The silence of the state in this field only makes it seem natural and facilitates the promotion of drug use and its commercialization.

In a context such as this, it is necessary for the democratic system to watch over the institutionality of the judiciary, so that it can be independent, to investigate the networks of corruption and money laundering that facilitate the advancement of drug trafficking. Every member of the judiciary is responsible for safeguarding its integrity, which begins with the rectitude of its heart. Likewise, thanks must be given to all those men and women who, through their silent commitment to justice, so often put their lives at risk for the common good in an often dehumanised context.

“The entrepreneur is a fundamental figure in any good economy: there is no good economy without a good entrepreneur”. Unfortunately, there is also no bad economy without the complicity of a part of the private sector. There is therefore a great task ahead in the entrepreneurial sector, not only by preventing complicity in business with criminal organizations, but also by engaging socially. There are great examples of this in the life of Argentine entrepreneurship, including that of Enrique Shaw. No one is saved alone; even in private neighbourhoods one can find insecurity and the threat of consumption for one's children. Peace is an enterprise that demands the creativity and commitment of all those who have the gift of enterprise and innovation, and you know how to do it. Thank you for that.

Since, in every mafia system, the poor are the disposable material, I invite you to make an effort and join forces to ensure the state and intermediary institutions provide community spaces in vulnerable neighbourhoods. And they can also create the conditions for the integral human development of children, adolescents and young people, for a better future than their parents and grandparents had.

All of us – social, civil and religious institutions – must be united to do what we know how to do best: to create community.

Rosario can count on a great wealth of institutions at the service of others. It is a wealth that you have. We can all collaborate and participate in sports, educational and community spaces. Fear always isolates, fear paralyses. You must not be afraid to engage with others to provide a peaceful and inspiring response.

Brothers and sisters, the Church, as Mother and Samaritan, is always called upon to spiritually and organically accompany the families of victims who have lost their lives to violence, to accompany the sick, to accompany those who experience the scourge of addiction, along with their families, to accompany those who find themselves in prison and then need a path to reintegration, to accompany those who live in situations of extreme vulnerability.

The parish is the Church that makes herself close, it is the community where everyone can feel loved. For many vulnerable children, adolescents and young people it will perhaps be the only family experience they will have the opportunity to get to know. In these times, love, charity, will be the most explicit proclamation of the Gospel for a society that feels threatened.

Dear brothers and sisters of Rosary, I am close to you. May Our Lady of the Rosary intercede day and night for all her children, especially, as mothers are wont to do, with special attention to those with the greatest frailties. God bless you, and I embrace you.

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 26 March 2024