dangerous tenements, “in cases where it is necessary to relocate them, in order not to heap suffering
upon suffering, adequate information needs to be given beforehand, with choices of decent housing
offered, and the people directly involved must be part of the process”.
118
At the same time, creativity
should be shown in integrating rundown neighbourhoods into a welcoming city: “How beautiful those
cities which overcome paralyzing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very
integration a new factor of development! How attractive are those cities which, even in their
architectural design, are full of spaceswhich connect, relate and favour the recognitionof others!”
119
153. The quality of life in cities has much to do with systems of transport, which are often a source
ofmuch suffering for those who use them. Many cars, used by one ormore people, circulate in cities,
causing traffic congestion, raising the level of pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of non-
renewable energy. This makes it necessary to build more roads and parking areas which spoil the
urban landscape. Many specialists agree on the need to give priority to public transportation. Yet
somemeasures needed will not prove easily acceptable to society unless substantial improvements are
made in the systems themselves, which in many cities force people to put up with undignified
conditions due to crowding, inconvenience, infrequent service and lackof safety.
154. Respect for our dignity as human beings often jars with the chaotic realities that people have to
endure in city life. Yet this should not make us overlook the abandonment and neglect also
experienced by some rural populations which lack access to essential services andwhere someworkers
are reduced to conditions of servitude,without rights or even thehopeof amore dignified life.
155. Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human life and
the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified
environment. PopeBenedict XVI spoke of an “ecology ofman”, based on the fact that “man too has a
nature that hemust respect and that he cannot manipulate at will”.
120
It is enough to recognize that our
body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings.
The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a
gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our
118
PONTIFICALCOUNCILFOR JUSTICEANDPEACE,
Compendiumof the SocialDoctrineof theChurch
, 482.
119
ApostolicExhortation
EvangeliiGaudium
(24November 2013), 210:AAS105 (2013), 1107.
120
Address to theGermanBundestag
, Berlin (22September 2011):AAS103 (2011), 668.
