• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis shakes hands with Pasquale Tridico, president of Italy's national welfare system (INPS), during an audience with staff and managers at the Vatican April 3, 2023. The pope said a nation's welfare and social service systems are a reminder that everything is connected and everyone is interdependent on each other, especially younger and older generations. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope: Politicians must save, not squander, assets for future generations

April 3, 2023
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A nation’s welfare and social service systems are a reminder that everything is connected, and everyone is interdependent on each other, especially the younger and older generations, Pope Francis said.

Society seems to have lost sight of the future, caring only about the present and little about what may happen to future generations, with people thinking: “‘I’ll do my part, then the others will make do.’ This won’t do,” the pope said April 3.

Instead, “a strong bond between generations is the prerequisite” for pension and social security systems to work, he said during an audience at the Vatican with management and staff of Italy’s national welfare system. The system, known by the Italian acronym INPS, covers social security benefits for retirement, old age, disabilities, illness, unemployment, family leave, on-the-job injuries or illnesses and individuals and households in need.

He encouraged them to “continue to make the right to a pension concretely possible” and cultivate a “culture of the common good, providence and sustainability.”

“Social security also reminds us that ‘everything is connected’ and that we are interdependent on each other,” he said. “A worker’s well-deserved pension, in fact, is supported not only by his or her years of work, but also by the fact that there is someone who, through their work, is effectively paying for the pension of others.”

The pope lamented the burden of huge public debt being placed on future generations and the problem of a “demographic winter” with declining birth rates and more people living longer. A person in his late 50s may well ask, “Who will pay my pension? It won’t be the dogs that people have instead of children,” the pope said.

“Therefore, I would like to make three appeals to preserve social security” so it can survive the challenges of an increasingly aging population, he said.

Pope Francis called for an end to illegal and “under the table” employment which deprives families of access to the pension system, “distorts the labor market and exposes workers to forms of exploitation and injustice.”

He called for an end to job insecurity and precarious employment, “which has an impact on young people’s life choices and as such forces them to work even when their energies fail.”

“Precariousness should be transitory, it cannot be excessively prolonged; otherwise, it ends up leading to mistrust, it promotes the postponement of life choices in the young, it delays their entry into the pension system, and it exacerbates the declining birth rate,” he added.

Finally the pope called for supporting work that promotes human dignity, that is, it is “free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive.”

Setting aside sufficient economic resources and “guaranteeing access to health care are precious assets that can hold together the different seasons of life,” he added.

“We need wise politicians, guided by the criterion of fraternity, and who know how to discern between one season and another, avoiding wasting resources when they exist and leaving future generations in grave difficulty,” the pope said.

Read More Vatican News

Parishes need to launch ‘revolution of care’ for the elderly, pope says

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

Pope celebrates Apollo 11 anniversary with peek at the heavens, call to astronaut

Pope, Palestinian president discuss humanitarian tragedy in Gaza during phone call

Pope condemns Israel’s attack against church, calls for end to ‘barbarity’

Pope: Summer marks time to balance busyness with rest, prayer, joy with loved ones

Copyright © 2023 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

  • Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

  • Archbishop Wenski leads Knights on Bikes to pray rosary at Alligator Alcatraz

| Latest Local News |

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

| Latest World News |

Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man

Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says

New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program

Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options

Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man
  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary
  • LA archbishop, joined by business leaders, starts fund to help families affected by ICE raids
  • FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence
  • Poland’s ‘living memorial’ to St. John Paul II marks 25 years of transforming lives
  • Our faith is not afraid of questions

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en