I am a 92-year-old American, a Holocaust survivor from Germany. I am delighted by your humanistic approach to the problems of climate change, predatory capitalism, and terrorism. I plead with you to further use your enormous influence to help the poor and downtrodden.
Since you are an insightful person with millions hanging onto your words, I hope you will continue to speak out about some of the world's social pathologies. For instance, the despair and fury of people we call terrorists, who use the guise of religion to destroy the lives of their fellow humans. Colonized people, who have been made to feel inferior, are misguidedly using violence to re-establish themselves as worthy human beings.
In our country, minorities are fighting for their rightful status as equal citizens in a democracy. Native Americans, who were killed by the millions and continue to face discrimination, are also fighting back. These attempts are thwarted by the multi-billionaires, who care only for their own power and wealth.
Yet such movements are asserting themselves all over the globe, from the Arab Spring to the demonstrations against the suppression of African Americans by police forces.
And now, anti-semitism is again raising its ugly head. This too needs to be addressed.
I believe, Pope Francis, that you can perform social miracles by continuing to offer the kind of insights contained in liberation theology.
Chazak Ve'ematz (Strength and Courage).
Miriam Almeleh
