“It is time to reaffirm hope, through words and, above all, through actions, through community gestures of faith, by the unwavering practice of charity, shared love, giving to others, respecting their rights and duties, their differences, their pluralism, their proximity, justice, dialogue, tolerance, and peace,” stated Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking at the Jubilee meeting “Commitment to the City,” organized by the Patriarchate of Lisbon, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
In an address to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo XIV’s Secretary of State, the Portuguese head of state emphasized that hope is essential in “times of despair.”
“Of wars, exterminations, miseries – in bodies and spirits – of exploitations, subjugations, dependencies, exclusions, oblivions, selfishness, transacting values and principles, trampling, millions and millions, on the dignity of people, groups, peoples, nations, regions, parts of continents, washed by all oceans,” he stressed.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa continued, warning that we live in times “where the alleged reasons of power, appetites, and vanities are worth much more than the power of reason.”
The head of state argued that the feeling of hope should be “for everyone,” especially “for the overwhelming majority of the hopeless and even for the very few who concentrate their hope on being privileged.”
“Men, women, groups, classes, ideals, creeds, nations, who consider themselves the only elected ones, monopolists of power, knowledge, possession of nature, domination over others,” he criticized.
Marcelo called for hope “with faith, the faith of religions, churches, prayers,” but also “the faith of philosophies, diverse humanisms, and personalisms, of communities and the prayers of non-believers.”
The head of state proceeded, calling for hope “with charity, that is, with love, service, donation, sharing with everyone,” especially “with those born and surviving where there is no sun, no light, no possible life, no food, no shelter, no healthcare, no education, no work, no present, no future.”
“Hope, faith, and love in those who have a family, those who have it divided, distant, torn, in those who only know death, hunger, the odyssey without horizon,” he added.
Marcelo highlighted that these people “will never know the hope of the geopolitics of the world rulers, nor of the galaxy owners, or advanced satellites, or platforms, nor of those who confuse life in their galaxies with the ground of this earth and those who tread it day after day, searching for a tomorrow they will never know.”
“Hope despite all this, hope against all this, hope without fear, with constant commitment, determined, always renewed and deepening peace, justice, proximity and, therefore, truth and the common good,” he maintained.
Following a ceremony attended by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and the Vice President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Marcelo asked the cardinal to receive, from the messages he heard, “what is the testimony of a nation people, present worldwide, and grateful for what it has gathered from the world for centuries.”
“And convey, I ask you, respectfully and warmly, to the Holy Father. Just like the Supreme Pontiff, we try, in Portugal, to learn from St. Augustine, an essentialist who, in some way, was also a precursor of true Christian existentialism. We try to learn, every day, to build, in the city of men, the city of God,” he concluded.
The meeting brought together various leaders from the political, justice, Armed Forces, and security sectors.
“It is an initiative with a strong civic and spiritual focus, aiming to sensitize authorities and public officials to the common good and the construction of a fairer and more supportive society,” the organization states.
