Why Poverty?

(Vatican Radio) On the same day in which Pope Francis denounced hunger as a scandal and urged us all not to look the other way, a photographic exhibition highlighting the global scourge of extreme poverty was inaugurated in the foyer of Vatican Radio.

The title of the exhibition is “Why Poverty?” and it is part of a wide-ranging project involving the Radio and "Prospettiva8" Cultural Association (for the realization of the photographic project) and other organizations in a year-long commitment to raise awareness and promote initiatives in the name of solidarity and action.

But what’s so special about the exhibition – apart of course from the beautiful photographs – is the fact that the captions accompanying each image have no geographical or temporal indication, but a Papal quotation that shines the light on the theme of poverty in Catholic Social Teaching.

Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni spoke to Stefano Leszczynski, head of Vatican Radio's Central Information Service, who organized and set up the exhibition….

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Leszczynski descbribes the exhibition that consists in a selection of 30 photographs, both in black and white and in colour, all of them pertaining to the theme of extreme poverty throughout the world.

He says that it was a precise and intentional decision not to accompany the images with captions describing the place or time the photographs was taken "because we wanted people to be able to imagine that these pictures were taken in any place, close to their homes or to their lives".

Leszczynski says they all depict scenes that you can see everywhere, but they represent something that you usually do not observe. "You 'see' - maybe on the streets these extreme forms of poverty, but you never stop and reflect on what they really mean".

The exhibition is an occation to stop, look and reflect on poverty and its reasons.

He speaks about the choice of using Papal quotations to accompany the photographs. Most of them are from Pope Francis as he has spoken more than anyone so far about poverty and how we must pay attention to it.

The exhibition is also a chance to discover the role fo the Catholic Church regarding the issue of poverty in recent history.