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Pope Benedict XVI- Messages - World Day of Peace |
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE
"FIGHTING POVERTY TO BUILD 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 Poverty 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” [1].
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 behaviour 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
material 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”[2], and
on the other hand the negative consequences of
“superdevelopment”[3]. 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 of his vocation, and when
the demands of a true “human ecology” [4] are not respected, the
cruel forces of poverty are unleashed, as is evident in certain
specific areas that I shall now consider briefly one by one.
Poverty and moral implications
3. Poverty is often considered a consequence of demographic
change. For this reason, there are international campaigns afoot
to reduce birth-rates, sometimes using methods that respect
neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to
choose responsibly how many children to have[5]; graver still,
these methods often fail to respect even the right to life. The
extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the
fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of
the poorest of all human beings. And yet it remains the case
that in 1981, around 40% of the world's population was below the
threshold of absolute poverty, while today that percentage has
been reduced by as much as a half, and whole peoples have
escaped from poverty despite experiencing substantial
demographic growth. This goes to show that resources to solve
the problem of poverty do exist, even in the face of an
increasing population. Nor must it be forgotten that, since the
end of the Second World War, the world's population has grown by
four billion, largely because of certain countries that have
recently emerged on the international scene as new economic
powers, and have experienced rapid development specifically
because of the large number of their inhabitants. Moreover,
among the most developed nations, those with higher birth-rates
enjoy better opportunities for development. In other words,
population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that
contributes to poverty.
4. Another area of concern has to do with pandemic diseases,
such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. Insofar as they affect
the wealth-producing sectors of the population, they are a
significant factor in the overall deterioration of conditions in
the country concerned. Efforts to rein in the consequences of
these diseases on the population do not always achieve
significant results. It also happens that countries afflicted by
some of these pandemics find themselves held hostage, when they
try to address them, by those who make economic aid conditional
upon the implementation of anti-life policies. It is especially
hard to combat AIDS, a major cause of poverty, unless the moral
issues connected with the spread of the virus are also
addressed. First and foremost, educational campaigns are needed,
aimed especially at the young, to promote a sexual ethic that
fully corresponds to the dignity of the person; initiatives of
this kind have already borne important fruits, causing a
reduction in the spread of AIDS. Then, too, the necessary
medicines and treatment must be made available to poorer peoples
as well. This presupposes a determined effort to promote medical
research and innovative forms of treatment, as well as flexible
application, when required, of the international rules
protecting intellectual property, so as to guarantee necessary
basic healthcare to all people.
5. A third area requiring attention in programmes for fighting
poverty, which once again highlights its intrinsic moral
dimension, is child poverty. When poverty strikes a family, the
children prove to be the most vulnerable victims: almost half of
those living in absolute poverty today are children. To take the
side of children when considering poverty means giving priority
to those objectives which concern them most directly, such as
caring for mothers, commitment to education, access to vaccines,
medical care and drinking water, safeguarding the environment,
and above all, commitment to defence of the family and the
stability of relations within it. When the family is weakened,
it is inevitably children who suffer. If the dignity of women
and mothers is not protected, it is the children who are
affected most.
6. A fourth area needing particular attention from the moral
standpoint is the relationship between disarmament and
development. The current level of world military expenditure
gives cause for concern. As I have pointed out before, it can
happen that “immense military expenditure, involving material
and human resources and arms, is in fact diverted from
development projects for peoples, especially the poorest who are
most in need of aid. This is contrary to what is stated in the
Charter of the United Nations, which engages the international
community and States in particular ‘to promote the establishment
and maintenance of international peace and security with the
least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic
resources' (art. 26)” [6].
This state of affairs does nothing to promote, and indeed
seriously impedes, attainment of the ambitious development
targets of the international community. What is more, an
excessive increase in military expenditure risks accelerating
the arms race, producing pockets of underdevelopment and
desperation, so that it can paradoxically become a cause of
instability, tension and conflict. As my venerable Predecessor
Paul VI wisely observed, “the new name for peace is
development”[7]. States are therefore invited to reflect
seriously on the underlying reasons for conflicts, often
provoked by injustice, and to practise courageous
self-criticism. If relations can be improved, it should be
possible to reduce expenditure on arms. The resources saved
could then be earmarked for development projects to assist the
poorest and most needy individuals and peoples: efforts expended
in this way would be efforts for peace within the human family.
7. A fifth area connected with the fight against material
poverty concerns the current food crisis, which places in
jeopardy the fulfilment of basic needs. This crisis is
characterized not so much by a shortage of food, as by
difficulty in gaining access to it and by different forms of
speculation: in other words, by a structural lack of political
and economic institutions capable of addressing needs and
emergencies. Malnutrition can also cause grave mental and
physical damage to the population, depriving many people of the
energy necessary to escape from poverty unaided. This
contributes to the widening gap of inequality, and can provoke
violent reactions. All the indicators of relative poverty in
recent years point to an increased disparity between rich and
poor. No doubt the principal reasons for this are, on the one
hand, advances in technology, which mainly benefit the more
affluent, and on the other hand, changes in the prices of
industrial products, which rise much faster than those of
agricultural products and raw materials in the possession of
poorer countries. In this way, the majority of the population in
the poorest countries suffers a double marginalization, through
the adverse effects of lower incomes and higher prices.
Global solidarity and the fight against poverty
8. One of the most important ways of building peace is through a
form of globalization directed towards the interests of the
whole human family[8]. In order to govern globalization,
however, there needs to be a strong sense of global solidarity
[9] between rich and poor countries, as well as within
individual countries, including affluent ones. A “common code of
ethics”[10]
is also needed, consisting of norms based not upon mere
consensus, but rooted in the natural law inscribed by the
Creator on the conscience of every human being (cf. Rom
2:14-15). Does not every one of us sense deep within his or her
conscience a call to make a personal contribution to the common
good and to peace in society? Globalization eliminates certain
barriers, but is still able to build new ones; it brings peoples
together, but spatial and temporal proximity does not of itself
create the conditions for true communion and authentic peace.
Effective means to redress the marginalization of the world's
poor through globalization will only be found if people
everywhere feel personally outraged by the injustices in the
world and by the concomitant violations of human rights. The
Church, which is the “sign and instrument of communion with God
and of the unity of the entire human race” [11] will continue to
offer her contribution so that injustices and misunderstandings
may be resolved, leading to a world of greater peace and
solidarity.
9. In the field of international commerce and finance, there are
processes at work today which permit a positive integration of
economies, leading to an overall improvement in conditions, but
there are also processes tending in the opposite direction,
dividing and marginalizing peoples, and creating dangerous
situations that can erupt into wars and conflicts. Since the
Second World War, international trade in goods and services has
grown extraordinarily fast, with a momentum unprecedented in
history. Much of this global trade has involved countries that
were industrialized early, with the significant addition of many
newly- emerging countries which have now entered onto the world
stage. Yet there are other low-income countries which are still
seriously marginalized in terms of trade. Their growth has been
negatively influenced by the rapid decline, seen in recent
decades, in the prices of commodities, which constitute
practically the whole of their exports. In these countries,
which are mostly in Africa, dependence on the exportation of
commodities continues to constitute a potent risk factor. Here I
should like to renew an appeal for all countries to be given
equal opportunities of access to the world market, without
exclusion or marginalization.
10. A similar reflection may be made in the area of finance,
which is a key aspect of the phenomenon of globalization, owing
to the development of technology and policies of liberalization
in the flow of capital between countries. Objectively, the most
important function of finance is to sustain the possibility of
long- term investment and hence of development. Today this
appears extremely fragile: it is experiencing the negative
repercussions of a system of financial dealings – both national
and global – based upon very short-term thinking, which aims at
increasing the value of financial operations and concentrates on
the technical management of various forms of risk. The recent
crisis demonstrates how financial activity can at times be
completely turned in on itself, lacking any long-term
consideration of the common good. This lowering of the
objectives of global finance to the very short term reduces its
capacity to function as a bridge between the present and the
future, and as a stimulus to the creation of new opportunities
for production and for work in the long term. Finance limited in
this way to the short and very short term becomes dangerous for
everyone, even for those who benefit when the markets perform
well[12].
11. All of this would indicate that the fight against poverty
requires cooperation both on the economic level and on the legal
level, so as to allow the international community, and
especially poorer countries, to identify and implement
coordinated strategies to deal with the problems discussed
above, thereby providing an effective legal framework for the
economy. Incentives are needed for establishing efficient
participatory institutions, and support is needed in fighting
crime and fostering a culture of legality. On the other hand, it
cannot be denied that policies which place too much emphasis on
assistance underlie many of the failures in providing aid to
poor countries. Investing in the formation of people and
developing a specific and well-integrated culture of enterprise
would seem at present to be the right approach in the medium and
long term. If economic activities require a favourable context
in order to develop, this must not distract attention from the
need to generate revenue. While it has been rightly emphasized
that increasing per capita income cannot be the ultimate goal of
political and economic activity, it is still an important means
of attaining the objective of the fight against hunger and
absolute poverty. Hence, the illusion that a policy of mere
redistribution of existing wealth can definitively resolve the
problem must be set aside. In a modern economy, the value of
assets is utterly dependent on the capacity to generate revenue
in the present and the future. Wealth creation therefore becomes
an inescapable duty, which must be kept in mind if the fight
against material poverty is to be effective in the long term.
12. If the poor are to be given priority, then there has to be
enough room for an ethical approach to economics on the part of
those active in the international market, an ethical approach to
politics on the part of those in public office, and an ethical
approach to participation capable of harnessing the
contributions of civil society at local and international
levels. International agencies themselves have come to recognize
the value and advantage of economic initiatives taken by civil
society or local administrations to promote the emancipation and
social inclusion of those sectors of the population that often
fall below the threshold of extreme poverty and yet are not
easily reached by official aid. The history of twentieth-century
economic development teaches us that good development policies
depend for their effectiveness on responsible implementation by
human agents and on the creation of positive partnerships
between markets, civil society and States. Civil society in
particular plays a key part in every process of development,
since development is essentially a cultural phenomenon, and
culture is born and develops in the civil sphere[13].
13. As my venerable Predecessor Pope John Paul II had occasion
to remark, globalization “is notably ambivalent”[14] and
therefore needs to be managed with great prudence. This will
include giving priority to the needs of the world's poor, and
overcoming the scandal of the imbalance between the problems of
poverty and the measures which have been adopted in order to
address them. The imbalance lies both in the cultural and
political order and in the spiritual and moral order. In fact we
often consider only the superficial and instrumental causes of
poverty without attending to those harboured within the human
heart, like greed and narrow vision. The problems of
development, aid and international cooperation are sometimes
addressed without any real attention to the human element, but
as merely technical questions – limited, that is, to
establishing structures, setting up trade agreements, and
allocating funding impersonally. What the fight against poverty
really needs are men and women who live in a profoundly
fraternal way and are able to accompany individuals, families
and communities on journeys of authentic human development.
Conclusion
14. In the Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, John Paul II
warned of the need to “abandon a mentality in which the poor –
as individuals and as peoples – are considered a burden, as
irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced.”
The poor, he wrote, “ask for the right to share in enjoying
material goods and to make good use of their capacity for work,
thus creating a world that is more just and prosperous for all”
[15]. In today's globalized world, it is increasingly evident
that peace can be built only if everyone is assured the
possibility of reasonable growth: sooner or later, the
distortions produced by unjust systems have to be paid for by
everyone. It is utterly foolish to build a luxury home in the
midst of desert or decay. Globalization on its own is incapable
of building peace, and in many cases, it actually creates
divisions and conflicts. If anything it points to a need: to be
oriented towards a goal of profound solidarity that seeks the
good of each and all. In this sense, globalization should be
seen as a good opportunity to achieve something important in the
fight against poverty, and to place at the disposal of justice
and peace resources which were scarcely conceivable previously.
15. The Church's social teaching has always been concerned with
the poor. At the time of the Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum,
the poor were identified mainly as the workers in the new
industrial society; in the social Magisterium of Pius XI, Pius
XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II, new forms of poverty
were gradually explored, as the scope of the social question
widened to reach global proportions[16]. This expansion of the
social question to the worldwide scale has to be considered not
just as a quantitative extension, but also as a qualitative
growth in the understanding of man and the needs of the human
family. For this reason, while attentively following the current
phenomena of globalization and their impact on human poverty,
the Church points out the new aspects of the social question,
not only in their breadth but also in their depth, insofar as
they concern man's identity and his relationship with God. These
principles of social teaching tend to clarify the links between
poverty and globalization and they help to guide action towards
the building of peace. Among these principles, it is timely to
recall in particular the “preferential love for the poor”[17],
in the light of the primacy of charity, which is attested
throughout Christian tradition, beginning with that of the early
Church (cf. Acts 4:32-36; 1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8-9; Gal 2:10).
“Everyone should put his hand to the work which falls to his
share, at once and immediately”, wrote Leo XIII in 1891, and he
added: “In regard to the Church, her cooperation will never be
wanting, be the time or the occasion what it may”[18]. It is in
the same spirit that the Church to this day carries out her work
for the poor, in whom she sees Christ[19], and she constantly
hears echoing in her heart the command of the Prince of Peace to
his Apostles: “Vos date illis manducare – Give them something to
eat yourselves” (Lk 9:13). Faithful to this summons from the
Lord, the Christian community will never fail, then, to assure
the entire human family of her support through gestures of
creative solidarity, not only by “giving from one's surplus”,
but above all by “a change of life- styles, of models of
production and consumption, and of the established structures of
power which today govern societies” [20]. At the start of the
New Year, then, I extend to every disciple of Christ and to
every person of good will a warm invitation to expand their
hearts to meet the needs of the poor and to take whatever
practical steps are possible in order to help them. The truth of
the axiom cannot be refuted: “to fight poverty is to build
peace.”
From the Vatican, 8 December 2008.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
[1] Message for the 1993 World Day
of Peace, 1.
[2] Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 19.
[3] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,
28.
[4] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 38.
[5] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 37;
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 25.
[6] Benedict XVI, Letter to Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino on
the occasion of the International Seminar organized by the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on the theme:
“Disarmament, Development and Peace. Prospects for Integral
Disarmament”, 10 April 2008: L'Osservatore Romano, English
edition, 30 April 2008, p. 2.
[7] Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 87.
[8] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 58.
[9] Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Christian Associations of
Italian Working People, 27 April 2002, 4: Insegnamenti di
Giovanni Paolo II, XXV:1 (2002), p. 637.
[10] John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Assembly of the
Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, 27 April 2001, 4:
L'Osservatore Romano, English Edition, 2 May 2001, p. 7.
[11] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution
Lumen Gentium, 1.
[12] Cf. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of
the Social Doctrine of the Church, 368.
[13] Cf. ibid., 356.
[14] Address to Leaders of Trade Unions and Workers'
Associations, 2 May 2000, 3: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II,
XXIII, 1 (2000), p. 726.
[15] No. 28.
[16] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 3.
[17] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,
42; cf. Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 57.
[18] Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum, 45.
[19] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 58.
[20] Ibid.
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