Rising poverty in the world's richest nation

(Vatican Radio) Americans are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday but what about its citizens living in poverty who sometimes struggle to put enough food on the table for their families? The USA is the world’s richest and most powerful country yet poverty is increasing there with nearly one in six Americans currently living below the poverty line. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is an organisation set up by the Catholic Bishops of the U.S. that is dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty. The Chair of its Sub-Committee is Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento who spoke to Vatican Radio’s Susy Hodges about why poverty is increasing in the U.S.

Listen to the extended interview with Bishop Jaime Soto:

Bishop Soto says poverty is rising in the U.S. because in today’s globalised economy, the nation is longer insulated from the dramatic downturn and economic shocks being experienced by so many other countries around the world. Asked who are the greatest victims of poverty, Soto says families and children, especially the latter, are “the most vulnerable segment of the population” and very often these poor people are also immigrants. He says there’s no doubt that these people “are having a very very difficult time” right now. Another reason for concern, says Bishop Soto, are the growing social inequalities in U.S society. “We’re seeing a dramatic disparity between the very rich and the very poor.”

But what do the poor people themselves say is the worst thing about their situation? Bishop Soto believes the most difficult aspect is the “high-level anxiety the poor live with every day: “the worst thing, he continues, is the uncertainty, not knowing whether they will have enough to pay the rent or the mortgage or enough to feed their children.”

Bishop Soto says the Catholic Church and its charitable organisations at both national and parish level provide a “frontline service for the poor.” “We give them help,” he says, “and also hope.”