The Bishop of Nola, Mons. Francesco Marino, along with the entire church of Nola, expresses his full closeness and solidarity to all the workers of the Stellantis plant in Pomigliano d'Arco, who are experiencing moments of great concern and uncertainty about their future employment and that of their families, due to the likely cuts announced by the administration of Stellantis.
The Pomigliano d'Arco plant is of high quality, plays a strategic role in the auto industry and is essential for the industrial development of our South and the entire Italy.
It is a sector that in Campania provides employment and wage answers to thousands and thousands of workers.
It is true that, as Pope Francis reminds us, we are witnessing a real change of era, but in this historic and delicate ecological transition, the workers, the weakest part of the entire economic-social process, cannot and must not always be the ones to pay.
Pomigliano and the other southern plants (and not only) cannot and must not be sacrificed once again!
The church does not have technical or political solutions in social matters! But it is its sacrosanct right-duty to intervene when the dignity of people and their right to work is in danger, through which man participates in the creative work of God and is a means of support for his own family.
In his many interventions in support of the world of work, Pope Francis reminds everyone that 'we must fight to make work a demand for humanization and the future' and continuously invites 'let us all work decisively so that no one is excluded from the effective recognition of the fundamental rights of the human person'.
Our shepherd, Mons. Francesco Marino, in the Letter for Easter 2023, recalled 'the responsibility of Christians and the church to work for the common good, understood - the social doctrine of the Church reminds us - not as the sum of individual interests, but as the good of the whole man and of all men. And, again, 'It is necessary to reaffirm the fundamental values of attention to the poor, the safeguarding of creation, the custody of the landscape, the integration of migrants, the dignity of work, the subsidiarity to families'.
Accepting these teachings of our pastors, the Church of Nola invites institutions to work to safeguard the future employment of Campanian employees of the Stellantis group and to activate necessary policies aimed at supporting the sector.
It also urges the company and the government to make concrete decisions in favor of workers, for effective support for employment, families and the economy.
We must defend jobs at all costs!
To the workers the Church of Nola says: 'You are not alone!'
Feel accompanied by our prayer and our concrete solidarity!
In the historic visit that S. John Paul II made to our church (May 23, 1992) he invited us to 'Build hope'.
Together, Church, institutions, company and workers, we want to build concrete hope for our territory and give serenity to workers and their families.