The Garden of God: Toward A Human Ecology

Fighting Poverty to Build Peace

160 Hunger, Poverty & the Earth’s Resources munity economies must be oriented toward the sharing of these goods, their lasting use, and the fair division of the benefits that derive from them. In the changing context of international relations, where uncertainties seem to be growing and new challenges are glimpsed, the experience acquired to date by the FAO alongside that of other institutions active in the fight against hunger can play a fundamental role in promoting a new way of understanding international cooperation. One essential condition for increasing production levels, for guaranteeing the identity of indigenous communities as well as peace and security in the world, is to guarantee access to land, thereby favoring farm workers and upholding their rights. The Catholic Church is close to you in all these efforts. This is testified by the attention with which the Holy See has followed the activity of the FAO since 1948, constantly supporting your endeavors so that your commitment to the cause of the human being might be pursued. This means, in practice, openness to life, respect for the order of creation, and adherence to the ethical principles that have always been the basis of social life. Fighting Poverty to Build Peace From Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2009 1. Once again, as the new year begins, I want to extend good wishes for peace to people everywhere. With this message I would like to propose a reflection on the theme: “Fighting Pover- 161 Hunger, Poverty & the Earth’s Resources ty to Build Peace.” Back in 1993, my venerable predecessor Pope John Paul II, in his Message for the World Day of Peace that year, drew attention to the negative repercussions for peace when entire populations live in poverty. Poverty is often a contributory factor or a compounding element in conflicts, including armed ones. In turn, these conflicts fuel further tragic situations of poverty. “Our world,” he wrote, “shows increasing evidence of another grave threat to peace: many individuals and indeed whole peoples are living today in conditions of extreme poverty. The gap between rich and poor has become more marked, even in the most economically developed nations. This is a problem which the conscience of humanity cannot ignore, since the conditions in which a great number of people are living are an insult to their innate dignity and as a result are a threat to the authentic and harmonious progress of the world community.”9 2. In this context, fighting poverty requires attentive consideration of the complex phenomenon of globalization. This is important from a methodological standpoint, because it suggests drawing upon the fruits of economic and sociological research into the many different aspects of poverty. Yet the reference to globalization should also alert us to the spiritual and moral implications of the question, urging us, in our dealings with the poor, to set out from the clear recognition that we all share in a single divine plan: we are called to form one family in which all—individuals , peoples, and nations—model their behavior according to the principles of fraternity and responsibility. This perspective requires an understanding of poverty that is wide-ranging and well articulated. If it were a question of ma9 . John Paul II, Message for the 1993 World Day of Peace, n. 1, January 1, 1993. 162 Hunger, Poverty & the Earth’s Resources terial poverty alone, then the social sciences, which enable us to measure phenomena on the basis of mainly quantitative data, would be sufficient to illustrate its principal characteristics. Yet we know that other, non-material forms of poverty exist which are not the direct and automatic consequence of material deprivation . For example, in advanced wealthy societies, there is evidence of marginalization, as well as affective, moral, and spiritual poverty, seen in people whose interior lives are disoriented and who experience various forms of malaise despite their economic prosperity. On the one hand, I have in mind what is known as “moral underdevelopment,”10 and on the other hand the negative consequences of “superdevelopment.”11 Nor can I forget that, in so-called “poor” societies, economic growth is often hampered by cultural impediments which lead to inefficient use of available resources. It remains true, however, that every form of externally imposed poverty has at its root a lack of respect for the transcendent dignity of the human person. When man is not considered within the total context...