(11 Dec 08 - RV) Below we publish the full text of Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 World
Day of Peace Message: Fighting Poverty to Build Peace 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 solidarity9 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.VATICAN PRESS1 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.