Emigration of young people trained in Portugal worries bishop responsible for Social Pastoral

“I am concerned that young people, when taking a course at university, have to go to work in another European country to have an income with which they can support their own future. This bothers me. It does not correspond to what was expected “, said José Traquina in an interview with the Lusa agency, classifying it as strange that the country makes a “large investment in training, in universities”, which is then put to work abroad.

For the president of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral and Human Mobility, a body of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), “it doesn’t mean that people can’t emigrate, of course, but there is something here that doesn’t correspond, that isn’t right”.

Taking stock of the evolution of Portuguese society in the 50 years after the revolution, José Traquina clearly states that there are “very positive and good aspects and it is necessary to recognize it”, pointing out, from the outset, the end of the war in the former colonies of Angola , Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, along with freedom of expression and the fight against poverty in the country.

“I was already 20 years old and it bothered me to know that someone was there and could hear [as conversas]. When I realized this danger, it was something that bothered me, not being able to speak freely, because there were people who listened, who reported it, that environment was strange. But the other dimension was the country’s poverty. It was a huge Portugal, with many provinces, but most of them lived very poorly”, recalls the bishop.

With the revolution “more health, more life, more roads, more hospitals, more schools, more training were achieved. There was everything else over 50 years, we need to recognize it”, he states, warning, however, about the need to “take stock of the years 1985/1990”.

“The country’s economic situation fluctuated”, with the entry into the scene of “large economic groups, large commercial establishments”, which led to “small commerce being stifled”.

“This changed the appearance of a remediated society. And it is appropriate that at this time, upon turning 50 [da revolução], think about how we want this in terms of the future. How are we going to achieve a remedied situation for people”, warned the prelate, for whom it is worrying “to see the number of poor [em Portugal]whose percentage does not decrease”.

Regarding the future of democracy, he does not perceive that it could be at risk, stressing that the hypothetical danger to democracy “results from people’s lack of training”.

“Those who have education and are aware of what it is like to live under dictatorship, or what it is like to live in chaos, prefer a democracy that works, but, for there to be democracy, there must be well-trained political men. There must be people who have a sense of justice and coherence of life”, considers the Bishop of Santarém, warning that “if people enter the democratic system who are not serious and, therefore, want to do it their own way”, it is known that “it will not work”.

He warns, however, of the increase in aggressiveness in Portuguese society, which points to a gap in training.

“One of the problems of Portuguese society is the increase in violence and aggressiveness in families and schools, which indicates that there is a flaw in human development. Why is it that, in order to understand each other, we have to fight with each other? ? So, we are not capable of dialoguing? If we have more intellectual training, we are not capable of dialoguing?