static analysis of realities in the service of present needs, is at workwhether resources are allocated by
themarket or by state central planning.
196. What happens with politics? Let us keep in mind the principle of subsidiarity, which grants
freedom to develop the capabilities present at every level of society, while also demanding a greater
sense of responsibility for the common good from thosewhowield greater power. Today, it is the case
that some economic sectors exercise more power than states themselves. But economics without
politics cannot be justified, since this would make it impossible to favour other ways of handling the
various aspects of the present crisis. The mindset which leaves no room for sincere concern for the
environment is the samemindset which lacks concern for the inclusion of themost vulnerablemembers
of society. For “the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to
favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in
life”.
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197. What is needed is a politics which is far-sighted and capable of a new, integral and
interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the crisis. Often, politics itself is
responsible for the disrepute inwhich it is held, on account of corruption and the failure to enact sound
public policies. If in a given region the state does not carry out its responsibilities, some business
groups can come forward in the guise of benefactors, wield real power, and consider themselves
exempt from certain rules, to the point of tolerating different forms of organized crime, human
trafficking, the drug trade and violence, all of which become very difficult to eradicate. If politics
shows itself incapable of breaking such a perverse logic, and remains caught up in inconsequential
discussions, we will continue to avoid facing the major problems of humanity. A strategy for real
change calls for rethinking processes in their entirety, for it is not enough to include a few superficial
ecological considerations while failing to question the logic which underlies present-day culture. A
healthypolitics needs tobe able to take up this challenge.
198. Politics and the economy tend to blame each otherwhen it comes to poverty and environmental
degradation. It is to be hoped that they can acknowledge their own mistakes and find forms of
interaction directed to the common good. While some are concerned only with financial gain, and
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ApostolicExhortation
EvangeliiGaudium
(24November 2013), 209:AAS105 (2013), 1107.
