Pope Leo: there is no justice if living conditions are inhuman

"There is no justice if living conditions are inhuman". Pope Leo, during the Jubilee Audience in St. Peter's Square dedicated to the workers of justice, stressed that "the Jubilee also invites us to reflect on an aspect of justice that is often not sufficiently focused on: that is, on the reality of so many countries and peoples that have a 'hunger and thirst for justice', because their living conditions are so unfair and inhuman as to be unacceptable". The Pontiff quoted St. Augustine: 'It is impossible to have law in a State where there is no true justice'. And he emphasised that 'these perennially valid sentences should be applied to the current international panorama'. The delegation in St. Peter's Square for the Jubilee of Justice Workers included Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro.

Evil "must not only be sanctioned, but repaired, and for this purpose a profound look towards the good of persons and the common good is necessary. An arduous task, but not an impossible one for those who, conscious of performing a more demanding service than others, are committed to irreproachable conduct of life," said Pope Leo XIV.

Prevost quoted St Augustine: "As St Augustine wrote: 'Justice is not such if it is not at the same time prudent, strong and temperate'. This requires the ability to always think in the light of truth and wisdom, to interpret the law by going in depth, beyond the purely formal dimension, in order to grasp the intimate meaning of the truth we are serving. Striving towards justice, therefore, requires being able to love it as a reality that can only be reached if we combine constant attention, radical disinterestedness and assiduous discernment. When one exercises justice, in fact, one places oneself at the service of the people, the people and the state, in full and constant dedication. The greatness of justice does not diminish when it is exercised in small things, but always emerges when it is applied with fidelity to law and respect for the person wherever he or she may be".

"Today, it is precisely the search for or recovery of forgotten values in coexistence, their care and respect, that urges justice workers," the Pontiff recalled. This is a useful and necessary process, in the face of the emergence of behaviours and strategies that show contempt for human life from its first manifestation, that deny basic rights for personal existence and do not respect the conscience from which freedoms spring". And he emphasised that 'it is precisely through the values underpinning social living that justice assumes its central role for the coexistence of individuals and human communities'.