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Gospel and Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

16 Bishops of the 3rd World
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As bishops of some of the peoples who are striving to develop, we endorse the anxious appeal of Pope Paul VI in his letter ‘Populorum progressio’, so as to define their duties for our priests and faithful, and to send words of encouragement to all our brothers in the Third World.

As they are in this Third World, our Churches are caught up in a confrontation no longer simply of East and West, but of three great groups: the western powers which grew rich in the last century, the two Communist countries that have also become great powers, and finally the Third World, still seeking an escape from the domination of the great powers, and the freedom to develop in their own way. Within even the developed countries there are still classes, races and peoples that have not yet received their rights to a full human life. An irresistible urge is working these poorer elements towards their betterment by liberating them from all oppressive forces. Although most countries may have gained their political freedom, economic freedom is still a rarity. Few also are countries where social equality prevails, an essential condition of true brotherhood, for peace cannot exist without justice. The peoples of the Third World are the proletariat of existing humanity, exploited by the great, their very survival threatened by ones who, because they are stronger, arrogate to themselves the sole right to judge and police peoples less rich in material terms. In fact our peoples are no less wise or just than the great powers.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 49 , Issue 571 , December 1967 , pp. 140 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © 1967 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

page 140 note 1 This document was originally published in Témoignage Chretien on 31st August of this year. We are very grateful to the editor for authorizing us to reproduce our translation here. This latter is due to Mr James Gordon.

The original signatories numbered 15, but one more bishop has since signified his wish to be associated with the document. They are therefore as follows: Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife, Brazil; John‐Baptist Da Mota e Albuquerque, Archbishop of Victoria, Brazil; Luis Gonzaga Fernandes, Auxiliary of Victoria, Brazil; Georges Mercier, Bishop of Laghouat, Sahara, Algeria; Michel Darmancier, Bishop of Wallis and Futuna, Oceania; Amand Hubert, Vicar apostolic, Heliopolis, Egypt; Angelo Cuniberti, Vicar apostolic of Florencia, Columbia; Severino Mariano de Aguiar, Bishop of Pesqueira, Brazil; Frank Franic, Bishop of Split, Jugoslavia; Francisco Austregesilio de Mesquita, Bishop of Afogados de Ingazeira, Brazil; Gregory Haddad, Melchite Auxiliary of Beirut, Lebanon; Manuel Pereira Da Costa, Bishop of Campina Grande, Brazil; Charles Van Melckebeke, Bishop of Ning Hsia (China), apostolic Visitor to Singapore; Antonio Batista Fragoso, Bishop of Crateus, Brazil; Stephen Loosdregt, Bishop of Vientiane, Laos; Waldyr Calheiros de Novais, Bishop of Volta Redonda, Brazil.

page 142 note 1 Cf. Populorum Progressio gives the example of the late Bishop of Talca (Chili), Manuel Larrain.

page 143 note 1 Patriarch Maximus at the Council, 27th October, 1964.

page 143 note 2 Mater et Magistra, No. 389–391.

page 144 note 1 Patriarch Maximus IV at the Council, 28th September 1965.

page 144 note 2 Mgr G. Hakim, Archbishop of Galilee, at the Council, 10th November 1964.

page 145 note 1 Paul VI at the U.N.

page 148 note 1 Manifesto of bishops of the North‐eastern region of Brazil. Récife, 14th July 1966.