There is a need to 'globalize' solidarity, not indifference, pope says

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The world needs to be reminded that every human being is a child of God and is created in his image, Pope Francis said.

"Because there, in this 'image,' the origin and foundation of irreducible human dignity is found: the origin and foundation of our all being brothers and sisters, as children of the one God, beloved and created 'in his image,'" the pope said March 4.

The pope's remarks came during an audience with writers, editors, producers, technicians and support staff of a weekly television show dedicated to the Catholic faith. The show, "A sua immagine" ("In his image"), airs on Italian state television, RAI, Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, and includes the broadcast and commentary of the pope's noonday prayer.

"I thank you and the RAI for contributing to giving resonance to the appeals that I address after the Angelus or the Regina Caeli to brothers and sisters in conditions of grave difficulty. In this way, you help the viewers not to forget, to be close to them in prayer, with concrete aid and with daily effort," he told the show's staff.

"There is a need to 'globalize' solidarity, and not indifference. And today indifference is so globalized," he said.

He praised the content of their programming, which he often watches before he addresses those gathered in St. Peter's Square at midday on Sunday.

Their show, he said, opens "'windows' on situations and places that often fly under the radar of public opinion"; gives voice to the vulnerable and those who suffer; talks about "those who live the Gospel in the geographic and existential peripheries of Italy and the world"; and presents people's experiences of life and service "gracefully and without shouting."

He underlined the importance of the show's title and how they must "preserve the wonder of this word, so as to be able to communicate it."

It is important people remember they have been created in God's image, he said, since much of what is happening in the world "bears witness to the loss, on the part of many people, precisely of the awareness of being children of God, created 'in his image.' There is a need to revive it."

Earlier in the day, Pope Francis also met with staff members of the Vatican newspaper's monthly insert dedicated to women. The color supplement, "Women, church, world," was launched in May in 2012 as a way to "widen the coverage of the newspaper of the Holy See" by including more articles on women and the church, the newspaper had said at its launch.

The pope greeted everyone and made a few off-the-cuff remarks, emphasizing how much he enjoys reading their work. "I always read it because I like it, I like this challenge that is already in the title" of the insert.

"Women are able to run things and to think totally differently from us and also, I would say, superior to us, in another way," he said. He criticized the tendency to treat women as "disposable" or like "a joke" or plaything.

The pope endorsed and encouraged their work and said, "it is not a kind of clerical feminism of the pope, no! It is opening the door to a reality, a reflection that goes deeper. I thank you so much for this."