VATICAN - Message of the Holy Father for the World Day of Peace 2009: “ 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.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Fighting poverty to build peace” is the theme of the Holy Father Benedict XVI's Message for the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2009. Revisiting a theme addressed by Pope John Paul II in his Message for the World Day of Peace 1993, Benedict XVI emphasized that “fighting poverty requires attentive consideration of the complex phenomenon of globalization.” This “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.”
Thus, the Pope encourages the faithful to have a “wide-ranging and well articulated” understanding of poverty, not reducing it to a mere material dimension, as “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...in advanced wealthy societies, there is evidence of marginalization, as well as affective, moral and spiritual poverty.”
In the first part of the Message, entitled “Poverty and moral implications,” the Holy Father confronts some of the modern areas of poverty. Firstly, he denounces the “extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty,” while in many nations, “population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty.” the second area is that of the relation to pandemic diseases, especially malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS. The Pope also mentioned how 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,” and acknowledges the fact that it is difficult to fight AIDS, “unless the moral issues connected with the spread of the virus are also addressed...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.”
A third area that the Message focuses on is the poverty of the children. “Almost half of those living in absolute poverty today are children,” the Holy Father says, encouraging all to give 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 defense of the family and the stability of relations within it. Benedict XVI then expresses his concern for “the current level of world military expenditure,” that diverts the use of resources meant to be used for the development of peoples, and he invites the States “to reflect seriously on the underlying reasons for conflicts, often provoked by injustice, and to practice courageous self-criticism. If relations can be improved, it should be possible to reduce expenditure on arms...efforts expended in this way would be efforts for peace within the human family.”
The final area considered is the current food crisis, “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.” The increase of the gap between the rich and poor seen in recent decades has various causes, among which are technological changes and the prices of industrial products, which rise much more quickly than the prices agricultural manufacturing and raw materials in poor 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.”
The second part of the Message focused on “global solidarity and the fight against poverty” and contained a series of reflections and proposals on the themes of globalization, international trade, finance and the current financial crisis, and the demands of a world governance under the sign of solidarity. “One of the most important ways of building peace is through a form of globalization directed towards the interests of the whole human family. In order to govern globalization, however, there needs to be a strong sense of global solidarity between rich and poor countries, as well as within individual countries, including affluent ones...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.”
As for 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.” The Pope thus launches an appeal “for all countries to be given equal opportunities of access to the world market.”
The Message then reflects on the fragility of finance: “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.”
In this sense, the Holy Father offers several suggestions for an efficient fight on poverty: improved cooperation both on the economic level and on the legal level, so as to identify and implement coordinated strategies to deal with the problems, thereby providing an effective legal framework for the economy; establishing efficient participatory institutions; support in fighting crime and fostering a culture of legality; investing in the formation of people and developing a specific and well-integrated culture of enterprise; increasing per capita income, which is an important means of attaining the objective of the fight against hunger and absolute poverty.
“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.”
In the final paragraph of this second part, the Message focuses on the need to govern “great prudence” in “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...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.”
In the concluding part, the Message focuses on the fact that “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.” Benedict XVI concludes with by extending “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.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 12/12/2008)