Archbishop urges Catholics to rent their houses under the market

The Archbishop of Valladolid, Mons. Luis Argüello urged Catholics to state that they are part of the body of Christ in the midst of society by renting their homes below the market price, to advance the “life unit.”

In a recent one carta pastoralcorresponding to the first half of July, Mons. Argüello proposes to transfer to other areas of daily life what was experienced during the Festival of Corpus Christi and its procession, “which expresses how the Eucharist we celebrate must go outside, not in an extraordinary way in a beautiful custody, but through that body of Christ that we are, the Catholics and especially those who live in the vocation of the vocation. world”.

Specifically, the prelate referred to the problem of access to housing in Spain that, According to Spanish Caritasaffects a large number of homes. 20% dedicate 70% of their income to pay the rent, when in 2007 that effort represented less than 50%, among other problems.

For the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), “Living in the middle of the world is this body delivered that is configured for us in the Eucharist” must raise, “especially those who have more than one home” and they consider taking it out to the market to obtain a legitimate profitability.

Thus, two positions would fit: follow the rules of the market or “place us with a criterion that springs from the very heart of the Eucharist that invites us to the communion of life and the communion of goods and also to a communion of action in the middle of the world.”

In the first case, Mons. Argüello warns that “that criterion responds to a kind of double life accepted” in which “one thing is the affairs of the Church” such as the liturgical celebrations or our inner life and another “the affairs of the street, the economic life, the relations between neighbors, the decisions in social and political life.”

In this second situation, the rules of the Church and those of the market are contemplated as “completely different” and unconnected, which “constitutes an acceptance of a kind of double life.”

“I do not mean a double moral life in personal behaviors, but a double life when assuming the ends of our life and the means we put to reach us,” says the archbishop.

From the evangelical criteria, the prelate asks: “Should Catholics should not consider what our criteria must be when putting in the market or not a home that, perhaps, we have closed? If we put it in the market, would we be willing to accept, perhaps, a less level of income that supposes a fair remuneration to an inverted money, but that is not subject to the short -term rules of a market?

Mons. Argüello adds that the fact of being Catholics “means putting some things and others”, so that “in this unit of life can be advanced and, thus, proclaim in all aspects of our existence that is the time of love.”

“And love also manifests in these decisions that also have repercussions for others that could better organize their existence. Yes, the Eucharist is related to everything that occurs around us,” says the prelate.

Thus, the communion of life, goods and mission “goes beyond our concrete, personal action, consistent with our faith, because we cannot ignore our own responsibility to act directly, in this case, in the lease of housing and indirectly also through our political action, through our moral reflection that we reach the rest of the citizens,” he concludes.