Spreading the word of Populorum Progressio in Ecuador: 40 years on

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Populorum Progressio (from which Progressio gets its name), one of our partner organisations in Ecuador, Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio (FEPP), organised a conference in Quito last year to spread the social teaching in the encyclical and analyse its relevance today, writes Michelle Lowe.

FEPP's director José Tonello believes that we have much to learn from the encyclical issued by Pope Paul VI in 1967 and takes a very progressive approach to development issues. He said: 'The Populorum Progressio encyclical has a lot of important things to say. It is a lot more progressive than many left-wing parties are today. It addresses issues of poverty from a perspective of structural causes and solutions, justice and the need for a new order of things. Many modern left-wing parties aren't willing to be so radical and prefer just to look at the current situation without analysing root causes.'

FEPP, which also takes its name from the encyclical, is a Catholic NGO working in rural development in Ecuador. It organised the event, which was partly funded by Progressio, together with the Ecuadorian Bishops conference. José Tonello explained that FEPP held the event because they were concerned Christian organisations are forgetting the important messages in the encyclical and other Christian social teaching. He said: 'Back in May we held another event with a group of NGOs with Christian inspiration at which it became clear that there is very little understanding of the social teachings of the church. We all knew that the teachings are very rich and interesting but beyond that we didn't really know the detail much beyond the titles. When we began to ask what the social teachings say on issues like the family, nature, equality, justice etc, there wasn't much understanding.

'We believe that it is important for us to familiarise ourselves more with the church's social teaching so that we can take it as an inspiration and a point of departure for our work. It should not be the only inspiration: we also need to learn from the political and social sciences and other sources. But, we can combine these sources of inspiration to give ourselves a strong position which is both modern and progressive.'

FEPP launched a book at the event, 'The Encyclical Populorum Progressio, in the past, today and tomorrow', outlining the teaching and its continuing importance. José Tonello said: 'The book aims to summarise the teachings of the encyclical and motivate people. If you read the encyclical it raises some very important issues. For example, it tells us that we have to reduce military spending. This is something that we all believe, but we aren't doing it. Despite protests in many countries around the world, military spending is increasing.

'It raises the problem of commercialism and of debt. It explicitly says that countries which lend money should not then control the public spending and governance in the countries that they lend to. This is still happening: the World Bank and the IMF impose their decisions on the countries that they lend to.

'The encyclical is also very strong on the issue of private property - it states that you shouldn't keep for your own private use that which would benefit the community at large. If you look at the behaviour of our bishops and churches in Ecuador, their behaviour goes totally against this principal. The church here continues to accumulate riches and goods. In fact, some left wing governments are doing better at applying Christian social teaching that the church itself. Whilst some governments are making attempts to make property ownership more egalitarian, the church is still accumulating wealth.'

In José's view, organisations with Christian roots and lay Catholics still have a long way to go to meet the challenges set out in the encyclical. He said: 'There is a lot of work to be done. The encyclical sets out the need for bold transformations and big changes. What we are doing can only count as very very moderate transformations. We are often working to change things, but not to change people.

'The book covers the past and present of the encyclical. We are now, as a group, thinking about the future. I'm not suggesting that we are capable of a huge revolution but after the conference we are now all more motivated to work together. There were some very inspiring presentations and discussions which will help us to take the next steps'.

And following January's publication of the recommendations coming out of the  event, FEPP will hold a series of events in 2008 to spread the word of Christian social teaching on property, land and other themes. José hopes the next steps will be 'commitments for joint working and taking the agenda forward will emerge out of those meetings'.

Michelle Lowe is Progressio's communications and advocacy development worker in Ecuador and Peru. This article is based on her interview with Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio (FEPP) director José Tonello.