1. Introduction. Towards integral development and ecology for good living

In his encyclical Laudato si (LS), Pope Francis conveys to us an integral ecology, proposing, for example, Francis of Assisi as a model, in order to achieve fraternal coexistence and peace. This is not only the mere absence of war or violence, but a state of fulfillment; a global development of the human being with reality in all its dimensions. It is the authentic development that brings this peace, as the Pope shows in Dear Amazonia (QA), and manifests itself to us in an integral ecology so that «it can consolidate a good life» (QA, 8).

It is the experience of the «re-ligation» (union, linkage) of all things and dimensions of reality, which opens us to interdisciplinary dialogue with philosophy and the various sciences ⁽¹⁾. An interrelation and solidary communion of everything with everything, with its dynamisms of openness, transcendence and integral liberation of all reality and the cosmos. Union with others, with the poor, with nature and with the transcendent, for faith, with God himself. As we can see, integral ecology with the good living brings about global development, the key to just peace, which embraces all these inherent dimensions of the human being and of reality ⁽²⁾.

Following the words of Benedict XVI when he said that, in addition to the ecology of nature, there is an ecology that we can call human, which in turn requires a social ecology. This implies that humanity [...] must always bear in mind the interrelationship between natural ecology that is, respect for nature, and human ecology, Pope Francis insists that everything is connected (QA, 41).

It is an integral development and ecology linked to good living, for a real just peace, which promotes life, dignity, justice (socialglobal), human rights, solidarity and the common good. It is a mental ecology, with that cordial reason of the heart that cultivates affections and feelings, empathy, sensitivity and merciful compassion towards others; that shares their joys, hopes, sufferings and injustices. It is about those desires, passions, feelings and ideals that give us meaning, happiness and fulfillment in life, such as fraternal love, solidarity, peace and justice with the poor.

This intelligence of love correlates inseparably with social ecology. Thus, a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach, which must integrate justice into discussions about the environment, in order to hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor (LS, 49). It is about listening to the voice of the voiceless; the cries of the poor and crucified of the Earth by evil and injustice, with the promotion of social and global justice. The other and the poor, with all their dignity as a person and child of God and our brother, is more than an object of help; he is the subject of his life, the protagonist of his liberating and integral promotion.

This constitutes the social and public dimension of ethics, with that civic and political love that seeks the common good, the civilization of love, justice, reconciliation and peace. It is a «macro-charity», more extensive and universal, which will eradicate the roots and causes of evil and injustice, with a communion in solidarity of life, goods and commitment to justice with the poor. It frees us from selfishness and its idols: from wealth-being rich, from power and violence. As Pope Francis tells us in Fratelli Tutti (FT), following Pius XI, the person thus enters «the field of the broadest charity: political charity». It is a matter of moving towards a social and political order whose soul is social charity (FT, 180).

The above is necessarily articulated with environmental ecology; with the care and fraternity with sister earth, that common home that shelters the human family. It is an eco-theological and cosmic fraternity with the whole universe and its beings, with all creation and with God. It also assumes and integrates the negative aspects of life, such as «sister death», in love and in the liberating hope of chaos, of all that is meaningless. It is that existence of love, humble and reconciled that leads to liberation from this weight of the negative, in peace, hope and God ⁽³⁾.

We thus open ourselves to a spiritual ecology that welcomes the gift (grace) of others and of the Other, of God himself, who brings us the gift of love, peace and liberating justice from all evil, including sin and injustice. It shows, then, a spirituality of encounter and of life, with openness to the transcendence of the face of others and of the Other, of God. It is about a mysticism of love in communion with the neighbor, with all humanity, especially with the poor and with God; of an authentic spiritual intelligence and holiness that, with fraternal love in liberating poverty from idolatries such as wealth-being rich or power, makes possible the globalization of fraternal solidarity and peace. Greed, ambition and having money as false gods are always obstacles to encounter and non-violence.

Francis of Assisi and Francis of Rome, for example, understood this very well with their life of spiritual, fraternal, solidary and liberating poverty with the poor and with the whole of creation. Therefore, it is a matter of making life a work of art, the art of living, as witnessed by the ethical and spiritual geniuses and the saints. It is thus a liberating aesthetic in the search for beauty, goodness and truth that is witnessed in fraternal love, peace and justice that opens us to that beautiful hope of eternity; to full and eternal life, when God will be all in all.

2. Anthropology of Development, Social Ethics and Ecology

From the previous reflections we can observe how the realities of development and ecology have become keys that synthesize all this social, moral and DSI thinking which, in turn, have their basis in anthropology ⁽⁴⁾. When there is no adequate anthropological foundation, as it happens today with the ideology of relativism and liberal individualism, with the economy and the market, things become idols that sacrifice the sacred and inviolable life and dignity of persons. The transcendence and the subject of the human being with his dignified life, rights and protagonism, must guide the social, political and economic realities, which must serve the needs, capacities and human development in solidarity and integral of the person.

As St. Paul VI shows us in Populorum Progressio (PP), an unforgettable and indispensable encyclical on these questions, development cannot be reduced to mere economic growth. To be authentic, it must be integral; that is to say, it must promote for all men and for the whole man... a new humanism which will enable modern man to find himself, assuming the higher values of love, friendship, prayer and contemplation. Thus he will be able to realize in all its fullness the true development, which is the passage, for each and for all, from less human conditions of life to more human conditions (PP, 14-20).

This development is based on an anthropology that is global, because it embraces all the constitutive aspects of the person, and also universal, because it includes all human beings in an authentic progress of peoples. In the face of the economistic materialisms of liberalism with its capitalism, or of communism with its collectivism, economic growth and productivity in the pursuit of profit are not enough. Integral human development presupposes and includes all the inherent dimensions that make up the person, such as the moral, social, anthropological, ecological, metaphysical, transcendent, spiritual and theological. The creation of economic activity is at the service of the possibilities and the empowerment of all human beings for their perfection, maturity and liberating and integral development, where the goods of the Earth must be accessible to all humanity.

Possessing and having must not be imposed on being (person) and on his vocation to fraternal communion with others, with creation and with God; on the call to ethical life and virtues such as solidarity, which demand responsibility for the common good ⁽⁵⁾. As today’s global capitalism is imposing, a development based on the enrichment of a few at the expense of the suffering, inequality and injustice suffered by the majority of humanity, the peoples and the poor, is inhuman and immoral ⁽⁶⁾.

Social thought, ethics and the SDC transmit to us values and principles that give true meaning to the progress of peoples, to an authentic development for all humanity ⁽⁷⁾. In his memorable encyclical letter Laborem Exercens (LE), St. John Paul II teaches us that the economy must be based on the universal destination of goods; on the just distribution of resources, which has priority over property (LE, 14). In this way, the intrinsic personal and social character of property, which ensures this common destiny and equity in the distribution of goods and resources for every human being, without privileges or exclusion of any kind, becomes a reality. The economy and the market must be regulated by the political community with the principle of subsidiarity, by which civil society, together with the State, manage public life for the common good ⁽⁸⁾.

All other rights over the goods necessary for the integral fulfillment of persons, including that of private property and any other right, «must not hinder, but on the contrary facilitate their realization», as St. Paul VI affirmed. The right to private property can only be considered as a secondary natural right derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods, and this has very concrete consequences that must be reflected in the functioning of society. But it happens that secondary rights are superimposed on priority and original rights, leaving them without practical relevance (FT, 120).

This develops all the social, material, cultural, ethical and spiritual conditions that ensure human rights, the perfection of the person and integral development. It is in opposition to the fundamentalism and idolatry of the market which, with its possessive and unsupportive individualism, manipulates economic and human freedom. Real freedom is realized in responsibility for the common good, which brings about the inherent sociability and ethical solidarity of persons, with a moral commitment to social justice, the civilization of love and this more universal good.

Another principle of development is that in work, the subject, the working person, with his or her dignified life, is above capital, profit and gain (LE, 12). In this line, the key to work is the payment of a fair wage, at the service of the needs of the worker and his family (LE, 9). The mercantile and legal contract of work is not enough, which, to be just, must conform to the ethics of the common good and justice ⁽⁹⁾. It is not enough for the worker to receive this just salary with humanizing working conditions, to make it possible to reconcile family life with work activity. The company must be a human community, based on a social (civil) and cooperative economy of the gift. Therefore, workers are managers, protagonists and owners of the property and destiny of the company for an effective business ethic, so that it fulfills its corporate social responsibility (LE, 14-15).

Francis insists that «helping the poor with money should always be a temporary solution to solve emergencies. The great objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work». No matter how much the mechanisms of production may change, politics cannot renounce the objective of ensuring that the organization of a society assures each person some way of contributing his or her abilities and efforts (LE, 162). And it summons us to fight against the structural causes of poverty, inequality, the lack of work, land and housing, the denial of social and labor rights. It is to confront the destructive effects of the empire of money... (LE, 123).

In development, it is vital to move from the unjust speculative and usurious financial economy -that financialization of the economy that turns it into a kind of casino- to a real economy that serves work, ethical enterprise and the common good. This is what St. John Paul says so well in Centesimus Annus (CA, 43). Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate abusive and unjust credits and interests, in order to become an ethical banking and a just financial system, making possible the universal destination of goods and decent work (LE, 13). In this line, fair and responsible trade is also essential, which must become an exchange of goods with equity for all peoples and in a sustainable manner, in order to establish a trading system based on solidarity and socio-environmental justice. To a large extent, this has its roots in the solidarity civilization of poverty. That is, in the solidary sharing of existence, of goods and of action for justice with the poor. Logically it goes against the idolatries of wealth-being rich, of possessing; of proprietorship, consumerism and greedy having that enslave the being and destroy the common home that is our planet Earth.

The market alone does not solve everything, although once again they would have us believe this dogma of neoliberal faith. It is a poor, repetitive way of thinking, which always proposes the same recipes in the face of any challenge that may arise. Neoliberalism reproduces itself without further ado, resorting to the magical «trickle down» or «trickle up» -without naming it- as the only way to solve social problems. It is not realized that the supposed trickle-down does not solve inequity; that it is a source of new forms of violence that threaten the social fabric. On the one hand, an active economic policy aimed at «promoting an economy that favors productive diversity and entrepreneurial creativity» is imperative, so that jobs can be increased rather than reduced. Financial speculation with easy profit as its main goal continues to wreak havoc. On the other hand, «without internal forms of solidarity and mutual trust, the market cannot fully fulfill its own economic function. Today, precisely, this trust has failed». The end of history was not the end of history, and the dogmatic prescriptions of the prevailing economic theory proved not to be infallible. The fragility of world systems in the face of pandemics has shown that not everything can be solved with market freedom and that, in addition to rehabilitating a healthy politics that is not subject to the dictates of finance, «we must put human dignity back at the center, and build on this pillar the alternative social structures we need» (LE, 168).

The SDC shows us, then, that human and sustainable development with an integral ecology, which assumes the cry of the poor and the clamor of the Earth, with that communion with others, with creation and with God ⁽³⁾. It also supports human ecology, based on the care and protection of life in all its spheres and phases (from the beginning with fertilization); with the defense of the family formed by the faithful love of man and woman open to life with children; with solidarity and the common good. It is a social ecology that promotes justice with the poor as subjects of their liberating and integral promotion.

It is also a psycho-affective and ethical ecology that develops feelings, such as compassionate empathy for the suffering and injustice of others and the poor, based on the experience of mercy. This intelligence of the heart, with the love that lives and puts into practice all these principles with moral values, constitute us as human beings. And it is manifested in the commitment to fraternal solidarity and liberating justice with the poor, which gives us meaning, fulfillment, happiness and true freedom in this humanizing and ethical responsibility. This affective, happy and moral life is rooted and transcends in spiritual ecology. It brings about the mystical experience of communion with God, who gives us the beauty of all this existence realized with meaning and which, in love united to the promotion of justice, culminates in full-eternal life.

3. Human and integral ecology with the good life

As we have pointed out, what has been presented up to this point is transmitted and deepened by the encyclical LS of Pope Francis, on the care of the common home, ⁽¹⁰⁾. As we are experiencing in Latin America with ecclesial and indigenous communities, both in the LS and in the QA we are shown a human and integral ecology, which manifests the authentic good living, as these communities transmit it to us ⁽¹¹⁾. In them we can see this reciprocal and solidary interrelation between the human being, the environment and God himself (LS, 138-155), with an ecological spirituality and ethic of care, which listens to the cry of the poor of the Earth and the clamor of nature.

It is the authentic quality of life as a good life that implies personal, family, community and cosmic harmony, and that is expressed in its communitarian way of thinking about existence; in the capacity to find joy and fulfillment in the midst of an austere and simple life, as well as in the responsible care of nature that preserves resources for the next generations (QA, 71). In this way, we are presented with a human and integral ecology, inseparably united to a true anthropology and global bioethics, through which the vital phases and dimensions that constitute the life of the person are made visible. Man, in his being male and female, is shaped by this ecology and human nature, with its diversity and complementarity of bio-physical, bodily, social, historical, cultural, spiritual and transcendent aspects.

We propose an anthropology of gift that embraces the gift of human life (LS, 91, 119-120); of the body and personal identity which, as human beings, must be respected and cared for in all its phases -from the beginning with fertilization- or dimensions in order to fulfill ourselves and develop integrally. When the value of a poor person, of a human embryo, of a person with a disability -to give just a few examples- is not recognized in reality itself, it is difficult to hear the cries of nature itself. Everything is connected. If human beings declare themselves autonomous from reality and constitute themselves as absolute dominators, the very basis of their existence crumbles (LS, 117).

In another historic and indispensable Message to the XXIV General Meeting of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Pope Francis shows us this global anthropology, with a conversion to the current centrality of integral human ecology; that is, of a harmonious and complete understanding of the human condition. It is an integral vision of the person, which tries to articulate with increasing clarity all the links and concrete differences in which the universal human condition dwells and which involve us starting from our body. Indeed, our own body places us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of one’s own body as a gift from God is necessary to welcome and accept the whole world as a gift from the Father and a common home, while a logic of dominion over one’s own body is transformed into a sometimes subtle logic of dominion over creation. Learning to receive one’s own body, to care for it and to respect its meanings, is essential for a true human ecology. Also the valuing of one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary to recognize oneself in the encounter with the different (LS, 155).

This diversity, duality and complementarity of human nature at the anthropological, physical, biological, bodily and affectivesexual level is realized in the faithful self-giving and love of a man and a woman, and shapes the basic institution of marriage, with the family open to life, children, solidarity, the common good and commitment to justice. This human ecology, which responds to the truth of the person in the face of every ideology and relativistic individualism, must be affirmed in this gift that constitutes the nature of the person with his or her human, physical, biological, bodily, social and environmental condition.

Francis teaches us that human ecology also implies something very deep: the necessary relationship of the life of the human being with the moral law written in his own nature, necessary to be able to create a more dignified environment. Benedict XVI said that there is an «ecology of man», because man also possesses a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will... In this way it is possible to joyfully accept the specific gift of the other, the work of God the Creator, and to enrich each other reciprocally. Therefore, an attitude that pretends to cancel sexual difference is not healthy because it no longer knows how to confront it (LS, 155).

All this human, social and ecological nature correlates in the fruitfulness of life with love; in care and justice with the family, with the poor of the Earth and with that common home which is our Planet ⁽¹²⁾. This communion of life, given in the love of man with woman, in marriage, family, solidarity and socio-environmental justice, results in the good life that presents the balance and harmony of human life with the cosmos and history ⁽¹³⁾. Breaking this anthropological, spiritual and indigenous worldview of good living leads to cultural and ideological colonization, to the destruction of the human, social and environmental ecosystem, which denies life in its various forms.

In this way, in his prologue to the book that gathers various texts of Benedict XVI, Pope Francis affirms that the same temptation of the rejection of any dependence on love other than the love of man for his own ego, for «the self and its desires» is presented once again. And, as a consequence, the danger of the «colonization» of consciences by an ideology that denies the profound certainty, according to which man exists as male and female, to whom has been assigned the task of transmitting life; that ideology that goes as far as the planned and rational production of human beings and that -perhaps for some purpose considered «good»- comes to consider it logical and licit to cancel what is no longer considered created, donated, conceived and generated, but made by ourselves⁽¹⁴⁾.

The various sciences such as physics, biology, medicine, neurosciences and environmental sciences are showing all this truth of human and ecological nature. This is also taught by the faith and tradition of the Church with the different popes, and by Pope Francis himself in LS and in Amoris laetitia ⁽¹⁵⁾. Without respect for this human, social and environmental ecology, the great and serious problems that we suffer today in humanity, such as aggressions against the life of the human being, the family and childhood, the poor and the planetary habitat, come to the surface ⁽¹⁶⁾.

In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I referred to the practical relativism that characterizes our times, which is «even more dangerous than doctrinal relativism». It is the inner logic of those who say: «let the invisible forces of the market regulate the economy, because their impact on society and on nature is inevitable damage». If there are no objective truths or solid principles, apart from the satisfaction of one’s own projects and immediate needs, what limits can there be to human trafficking, organized crime, drug trafficking, the trade in blood diamonds...? (LS, 122-123).

The values or principles of the life and dignity of the human being, of the poor and workers with their rights, such as a just salary, are above capital and the market (LS, 124-129). The universal destination of goods, with equity in the distribution of resources, has priority over property. In this sense, property always possesses an inherent social character (LS, 93-95). In a life of poverty in solidarity, it is a matter of fraternal sharing of existence, of goods and of commitment to justice with the poor, as opposed to the idols of wealth-being rich and of having that impose themselves on being fraternal (LS, 222-225). If someone does not have enough to live with dignity, it is because someone else is keeping it for himself. St. John Chrysostom sums it up: «Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and take their life. The goods we have are not ours, but theirs»; or St. Gregory the Great, «when we give the poor the indispensable things we do not give them our things, but we give back to them what is theirs» (FT, 119).

Reason and common sense, as we have already indicated, lead us to the conviction that there is nothing more beautiful, true and good than to embrace this anthropology and human and integral ecology with the good life. This is shown to us, as we have already pointed out, by all these Latin American and African indigenous communities, and by diverse spiritualties such as Jewish, Christian, Catholic and Islamic. Anthropology and the sciences, in their various branches, transmit to us this psycho-human unity ⁽¹⁷⁾.

Throughout the world, every human being shares these common human characteristics and values in a universal way; that is to say, an anthropological and ecological worldview in the diversity of cultures. It is about the same anthropological code and human normativity that, as all this integral ecology and good living shows us, makes it possible for us to develop and meet in an intercultural, ethical, ecumenical and interreligious way. In the end, it translates into the search for the civilization of love, the globalization of solidarity and peace, in the face of all war, violence and injustice.

4. Perspectives: development with ecology in the option for justice for the poor

From what has been presented so far, we can gather and update the contributions of social thought and ethics with their anthropological basis. Likewise, we take into account the moral and integral humanism of our time based on philosophical currents such as personalist and Latin American thought, with authors as significant as Mounier or Scannone ⁽¹⁸⁾. This authentic humanist treasure inspired by faith; all the moral and anthropological teaching of the DSI, show us a qualified and transcendent horizon of development. This, in its integrality and solidarity, embraces the constitutive dimensions of the whole person and includes, in a universal way, all human beings.

Therefore, as social thought teaches us, authentic development is rooted in this integral anthropology, which respects and promotes these constitutive dimensions of the human being, such as the moral and spiritual. And it is based on an ethic of solidarity that promotes justice, equity and fraternity with individuals, peoples and the poor of the Earth. It is a development that communicates an integral ecology for the good living, the good life with ethical, social and public virtues ⁽¹⁹⁾. And it is developed in justice and care of the person; in a mental ecology; in justice with others, especially with the poor; in social ecology and with the cosmos for an environmental ecology ⁽²⁰⁾.

The privileged epistemological and hermeneutical key to understand what is development, ecology and justice is the option for the poor and the victims ⁽²¹⁾. The most real (true) knowledge is this supportive and compassionate love, which is concretized in the principle of mercy, which assumes the sufferings and injustices suffered by the poor and the victims, with a commitment to their liberating and integral development. This translates into taking charge, bearing and taking charge of reality. In the end, it is the truth of honesty with what is real, such as the crucified peoples who, unveiling the lie that covers up evil and injustice, are always the permanent signs of the times.

The poor, together with the victims, are the social, ethical and spiritual-theological (theological) place where the real truth of suffering, inequality and injustice is manifested, denying the universality of fraternity in solidarity, of justice and of an authentic liberating development. Thus it is revealed to us in the God of life, in the poorcrucified Jesus and in his saving project; that is, in the Kingdom of God and in his liberating justice with the poor, as Pope Francis is also transmitting to us ⁽²²⁾.

In the face of all elitism and welfare paternalism (welfare humiliates), the key to true development is that individuals, peoples and the poor are the subjects of their promotion and integral liberation. The poor must be the protagonists of their development and management of human life (humanizing), social, public, political, economic and cultural. There is no true development without this real democracy in which persons, humanity and the poor (the impoverished peoples) are the authors of their existence in order to promote ethical freedom and solidarity, equality and universal fraternity ⁽²³⁾. Such democracy must be brought to all fields, such as agriculture, ecology and economy; food, energy and agro-ecological sovereignty of all peasants, workers and indigenous peoples.

Development requires the promotion of all these small farmers, peasants, workers and other people, so that they can cultivate the land, the field and other work activities, in which they can develop a diversified agriculture and economy, healthy, on a human scale, with ethics and corporate social responsibility, in a cooperative, social and ecologically sustainable way ⁽²⁴⁾. All of the above, as a basic principle of authentic development, presupposes the guiding value of the economy: the universal destination of goods, with a fair distribution of resources ⁽²⁵⁾, and specifically of land.

And it entails all the necessary and indispensable agrarian reforms and expropriations that make this socialization of goods a reality, with an equitable distribution of land, soil, water and other basic agro-ecological resources. The first value and right of the universal destination of goods, with equity in the distribution of resources, is above property, which is not an absolute and untouchable right, but is secondary to this personal and social character of possessions. This is what St. Paul VI teaches in Populorum Progressio.

In this line, for a real development that complies with social and global justice in the just distribution of goods, it is necessary to defend a worldwide equitable fiscal system. With it, those who have more, such as the great inheritances and fortunes or the great capital with its financial-banking activities, have to pay more and contribute more. Co-responsibility for the common good morally demands the payment of taxes (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2240). For this, it will be necessary to eradicate the immoral and unjust tax havens or other tax frauds, which lead to a real swindle of the public, social and ethical treasury of the countries. Another essential principle, in this human and integral development, is that work comes before capital. Living (human) work, in congruence with the dignity and rights of the worker, such as a fair wage, a basic social-ethical value, has absolute priority over capital, profit and gain ⁽²⁶⁾.

It is the civilization of work and poverty which, as opposed to the civilization of capital and wealth, promotes development in solidarity, with an ethical economy at the service of the life and needs of the people ⁽²⁷⁾. It is about development and real happiness with poverty in solidarity in the sharing of life, goods and praxis for liberating justice with the poor. Against this, there is egotism and individualism, with its idols of wealth-being rich, greed and hoarding property. There are also the idolatries of the market and of capital, as well as the false gods of profit and of having that sacrifice being, killing people, the poor and solidarity.

It is necessary to ensure a just international labor system that prevents social and labor inequalities and injustices, the main cause of poverty and inequity in the social division of labor. These include, for example, the so-called flexibilization and labor mobility or relocations, which lead to the exploitation (mistreatment) of workers, especially in the impoverished South, who are used as cheap labor, to produce more and at lower wage costs. Genuine development must also promote fair trade, with responsible consumption. The world trade system must seek equity in the exchange of goods, with decent working conditions and ecological protection. For this, it will be necessary to put an end to the tariffs or protectionist barriers that are imposed unilaterally on impoverished countries and prevent this fair trade, with dumping and subsidies that speculate, ruin and impoverish the producers of the South.

Furthermore, it is essential for development to ensure ethical banking, with a just financial system that puts an end to the sin of usury; that is, to those credits with abusive and unjust interest rates that speculate on everything; that indebt, impoverish and destroy individuals, families and peoples. In this sense, we must put an end to all this speculative financial economy that turns the Planet into a global casino that speculates with everything, with life and with goods as vital as food or water. And that permanently and systematically generates crises that, as true swindles and lies, enrich a few at the cost of impoverishing, ruining and destroying the majority of the impoverished of the Earth. It is proposed to give way to a real economy of goods and services, with ethical investments for employment and social dynamism ⁽²⁸⁾. This is how Pope Francis conveys it in LS and FT.

5. Conclusions

Development requires a just peace based on human rights, which puts an end to wars and world disarmament; which integrates the feminine perspective, respecting the dignity and promoting the protagonism of women in all fields. It proposes a global bioethics that defends life in all its phases, dimensions and aspects, as well as the fruitful, faithful and joyful love of man and woman, which form marriage, the family and children, and educate for life in solidarity, the common good and the struggle for justice with the poor. It also proposes intercultural and interreligious dialogue, which converges in a global, cosmopolitan ethic that favors encounter, coexistence and peace among all peoples, cultures and religions.

The result is the civilization of love, with the revolution of joy and tenderness brought about by the fraternal solidarity of the human family. We believers think that, without an openness to the Father of all, there will be no solid and stable reasons for the call to fraternity. We are convinced that «only with this awareness of children who are not orphans can we live in peace among ourselves». For «reason alone is capable of accepting equality among men and of establishing a civic coexistence among them, but it does not succeed in founding brotherhood» (FT, 272).