This is not a technical discussion, nor a bureaucratic reminder. It is something more direct, more profound, more urgent. Leo He had already said it in the Rerum Novarum Leo XIII. He reiterates it. With strength.
Clear words, without turns. And, above all, rooted in a tradition spanning more than a century. The Pope recalls the line that starts from Pope Pecci and runs through the entire twentieth century up to Brothers all of Francesco. A common thread: putting people’s concrete needs at the centre.
The wealth is there, but it doesn’t reach everyone
The Pontiff broadens his gaze beyond Italian borders. The world, he says, is rich. But it is a wealth that does not circulate, that is not redistributed. It accumulates in the hands of a few.
Hundreds of millions of people still live without food, without homes, without medical care, without essential services. Not because there is a lack of resources, but because there is a lack of will to distribute them equitably. This is the crux: “an unjust scenario”, in the face of which one cannot remain neutral.
It is not an abstract complaint. It is a precise accusation: the disparity does not arise from poverty, but from poor management of wealth. In this Pope Leo is linked to the speech held in Monte Carlo last week, precisely on a more equitable distribution of resources.
The role of INPS: not just numbers, but people
In this context, the Pope assigns INPS a responsibility that goes far beyond social security management. The Institute is called to be a social actor, capable of bringing together economic development and cohesion.
Translated: sustainability yes, but without sacrificing solidarity and equity.
The objective remains one, always the same: to guarantee everyone a dignified life through work. A principle that runs through the entire social doctrine of the Church, from the encyclicals Rerum novarumas mentioned, and Mater et Magistra of Giovannoi XXII, up to the most recent reflection on welfare as a universal right.
Work that changes and shocks
But today the ground has changed. And Pope Prevost recognizes this without nostalgia, but with realism.
Work isn’t what it used to be. The linearity of a stable career for life no longer exists. In its place, precariousness, short contracts, part-time, hybrid jobs.
Behind there are profound transformations: the financialisation of businesses, delocalisation, labor costs, and above all technological advances. Above all, the unknown of artificial intelligence, still difficult to decipher but already capable of impacting the concrete lives of people.
“Don’t forget the man”
In the end, the Pope returns to the essentials. He takes up the words of Pope Francis and relaunches them: “do not forget man”. Because work is not a commodity.
It is an invitation that sounds like a warning. The risk is clear: transforming the system into a cold machine, where only the accounts count and not the people.
The indication is simple, but demanding: work for those who work, support the weakest, defend dignity. It’s not rhetoric. It is the minimum condition for not losing the meaning of the entire system.
In a time when work is changing its skin and inequalities are growing, the challenge is all here: keeping efficiency and humanity together. And, above all, don’t lose what really matters.
