In a multi-national two-day gathering at the Vatican, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) National Co-Director Joe Rubio and Texas IAF Director Elizabeth Valdez joined national and international labor, business, university and community organizing leaders for the Fourth Synodal Meeting, “Fratelli Tutti: North-South Socio-Environmental Dialogue.”  It was the culmination of a four-year series of gatherings held in Latin America and Washington D.C.  The two-day meeting concluded with a direct audience with Pope Leo XIV, described below.        

[Excerpts]

At a time of ever-increasing polarization and conflict in the world, Pope Leo XIV called for developing social dialogue through

a healthy ‘culture of negotiation’ which is capable of opening paths where differences seem to close off every possibility of encounter.”

Commenting on the diverse composition of the participants, Pope Leo said,

Your presence expresses a desire to continue a dialogue that can lead to more humane, sustainable and solidarity-based models of development, capable of protecting the dignity of every person and paying particular attention to those at risk of being left at the margins....”

Mr. Rubio (in photo at right) told America Magazine: “While the session tackled such dire topics as climate change, the technological upheaval of A.I., and extreme wealth inequality, the main challenge was to build trusting relationships across sectors which don’t traditionally collaborate....”  Moreover, he said,

the promise of on-going social dialogue is that it will stir our imagination to create the power to bring about a just society,”

and he underlined that “most fundamental to its success will be the inclusion of those who are bearing the sheer brunt the profound dislocations, vulnerable workers, immigrants, and communities on the margins. The recognition that community organizing belongs in the discussion is vital.”...

From Pope Paul VI to Pope Francis to Pope Leo XIV... Fifty years after Archbishop Patrick Flores presented Pope Paul VI with a COPS button, IAF National Co-Director Joe Rubio shared the 50th Anniversary COPS/Metro button with Pope Leo XIV at the Fourth Synodal Meeting, “Fratelli Tutti: North-South Socio-Environmental Dialogue.”   In 2022, a delegation of 20 West/Southwest IAF leaders and organizers received a blessing from Pope Francis in what would be the first of three dialogues with His Holiness.

[Photo credit: © Vatican Media]

Pope Leo calls for 'Culture of Negotiation' at Meeting of North and South American Leaders, America: The Jesuit Review [pdf] 

Pope: Progress Must Not Leave New Ruins in its Wake, Vatican News [pdf]

Address of his Holiness Pope Leo XIV to the Participants at the Meeting 'Fratelli Tutti: North-South Socio-Environmental Diologue,' Pope Leo XIV [pdf]

Pope Francis Meets with COPS/Metro, COPS/Metro