PONTIFICAL COUNCIL « COR UNUM »
WORLD HUNGER
A CHALLENGE FOR
ALL:
DEVELOPMENT IN SOLIDARITY
PREFACE
I am very pleased to present the document "WORLD HUNGER A Challenge For
All: Development in Solidarity". It has been prepared with great care by
the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", upon the request of His Holiness
Pope John Paul II. Also this year in his Lenten Message, the Successor to St.
Peter, has given voice to those who lack the vital minimum: "The crowds of
starving people — children, women, the elderly, immigrants, refugees, the
unemployed — raise to us their cry of suffering. They implore us, hoping to
be heard."
The document follows the path laid down by Christ to His disciples. The
person and message of Jesus Christ are, in fact, centred on the manifestation
that "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8), a love which redeems humanity
and saves it from a manifold misery in order to restore all men and women to
their full dignity. Throughout the centuries, the Church has given many concrete
expressions of this divine care. The history of the Church can be written as a
history of love and charity towards the poorest of the poor, thanks to the many
Christians who have given witness to their needy sisters and brothers thus
showing Christ's love in laying down His life for all.
The study now published intends to give a further contribution to the
commitment of Christians, that of sharing in the needs of all. The themes dealt
with are very much of the present day, not only in describing the present
situation in the world as far as hunger is concerned, but also the ethical
implications of this problem which concerns all who are of good will. This
publication is also important in view of the Great Jubilee of 2000, which the
Church is preparing to celebrate. The spirit of this document is not based on
any particular ideology; it is lead by the logic of the Gospel and extends an
invitation to follow Jesus Christ in daily living.
It is my hope that this document will reach a large audience so that the
conscience of many persons will become more sensitive to the exercise of
distributive justice and human solidarity.
+ Angelo Card. Sodano
Secretary of
State
Vatican City, 4 October 1996, Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
WORLD HUNGER
A CHALLENGE FOR ALL:
DEVELOPMENT IN SOLIDARITY
"So widespread is the phenomenon that it brings into question the
financial, monetary, production and commercial mechanisms that, resting on
various political pressures, support the world economy. These are proving
incapable either of remedying the unjust social situations inherited from the
past or of dealing with the urgent challenges and ethical demands of the
present. By submitting man to tensions created by himself, dilapidating at an
accelerated pace material and energy resources, and compromising the geophysical
environment, these structures unceasingly make the areas of misery spread,
accompanied by anguish, frustration and bitterness..." "This difficult
road of the indispensable transformation of the structures of economic life is
one on which it will not be easy to go forward without the intervention of a
true conversion of mind, will and heart. The task requires resolute commitment
by individuals and peoples that are free and linked in solidarity".
(John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor hominis, 1979, No. 16).
INTRODUCTION (1)
The right to food is one of the principles enshrined in the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights(2).
The 1969 Declaration on Social Progress and Development declared the
need for "the elimination of hunger and malnutrition and the guarantee of
the right to proper nutrition"(3). Likewise, the Universal Declaration
on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, adopted in 1974, declared
that every person has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and
malnutrition for their full development and to preserve their physical and
mental capacities(4). In 1992 the World Declaration on Nutrition
recognised that access to suitable wholesome and safe food is a universal
right(5).
These words leave no room for doubt. The public conscience has spoken out
unambiguously. Yet, millions of people are still marked by the ravages of hunger
and malnutrition or the consequences of food insecurity. Is this due to a lack
of food? Not at all! It is generally acknowledged that the resources of the
planet, taken as a whole, are sufficient to feed everyone living on it(6).
Indeed, the per capita availability of food worldwide has even increased by
about 18% over the past few years(7).
The challenge facing the whole of humanity today is certainly economic and
technological in character, but it is more specifically an ethical, spiritual
and political challenge. The challenge is as much a matter of practical
solidarity and authentic development as it is of material advancement.
1. The Church holds that economic, social and political issues cannot be
properly approached unless the transcendental dimension of the human being is
taken into account. Greek philosophy, which has so thoroughly permeated the
western world, took this view: the human being can only discover or pursue
truth, goodness and justice using his own faculties if his awareness is
enlightened by the Divine. It is precisely the Divine that enables human nature
to consider disinterested duty towards others. Christians believe that it is
divine grace which gives human beings the strength needed to act according to
their own discernment(8). Nevertheless, the Church appeals to all men and women
of goodwill to accomplish this gigantic task. The Second Vatican Council stated
that: "Since there are so many people prostrate with hunger in the world,
this sacred Council urges all, both individuals and governments, to remember the
aphorism of the Fathers, "Feed the man dying of hunger, because if you have
not fed him, you have killed him'"(9). Such a solemn warning urges everyone
to be firmly committed to combating hunger.
2.The urgent nature of this problem has prompted the Pontifical Council "Cor
Unum"to offer some findings of its own research. It is duty-bound to appeal
to individual and collective responsibility for ensuring that more effective
solutions are adopted. The Council supports all those who are already earnestly
dedicated to this noble pursuit.
This document attempts to provide a global, but not exhaustive, analysis and
description of the causes and consequences of world hunger. It is specifically
based on the Gospel and the Church's social teaching. It does not set out
primarily to take stock of the present economic situation. The document,
therefore, will not concentrate on the statistics relevant to the present
situation, nor the numbers of people threatened with death by starvation, nor
the percentage of the under-nourished, nor the most at-risk regions, nor the
economic measures needed to stave off the threat. Drawing its inspiration from
the Church's pastoral mission, the purpose of this document is to send out a
pressing appeal to her members and to all humanity, for "the Church is an "expert
in humanity', and this leads her necessarily to extend her religious mission to
the various fields in which men and women expend their efforts in search of the
always relative happiness which is possible in this world"(10). Today, the
Church takes up again the provocative appeal that God made to Cain, asking him
to account for the life of his brother Abel: "What have you done? The voice
of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground..." (Gen. 4:10).
It is certainly not an unfair or aggressive exaggeration to apply these
forbidding, almost unbearable, words to the plight of our contemporaries who
today are starving to death. These words spell out a priority and are intended
to touch our consciences.
It would be an illusion to expect any ready-made solutions. The issue which
needs to be faced depends on economic policies of those who lead and manage, but
also of producers and consumers. Further, it is deeply rooted in our own
lifestyles. Thus, this appeal makes demands upon everyone, and we are hopeful
that a decisive improvement can be brought about as a result of human relations
that are increasingly based on solidarity.
3. This document is addressed to Catholics throughout the world, and to
national and international leaders who have the power and the responsibility to
take action in this sphere. But it is also addressed to all humanitarian
organisations and to all men and women of goodwill. Its specific purpose is to
give encouragement to the thousands of people, in all walks of life and
occupations, who daily strive to ensure that all peoples are given the same
right "to be seated at the table of the common banquet"(11).
I
THE REALITY OF HUNGER
The challenge of hunger
4. Our planet should be able to feed everyone adequately(12).
Before taking up the challenge of hunger, the many facets and the real
causes of hunger must be examined. However, there is no exact understanding of
all the situations of hunger and malnutrition that exist in the world. Several
major causes have nevertheless been identified. We shall begin by setting out
the reasons for this approach, before moving on to examine the main causes of
this scourge.
A scandal that has lasted too long: hunger destroys life
5. Hunger must not be confused with malnutrition. Hunger threatens not only
people's lives but also their dignity. A serious and protracted lack of food
breaks down the organism, generating apathy, a loss of a social sense, and
indifference or even cruelty towards those who are weaker — particularly
children and the elderly. Whole groups of people are then condemned to waste
away to death. Throughout history this tragedy has been played out over and over
again. But, today people are more scandalised by starvation than was the case in
the past.
Until the nineteenth century the famines which decimated whole populations
were more often the work of nature. Today they may be not so vast, but in most
cases are man-made. One need only cite a few regions or countries to be
convinced: Ethiopia, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Haiti, etc. At a
time when humanity is better equipped than ever before to deal with hunger, such
situations are a veritable dishonour to humanity.
Malnutrition jeopardises the present and the future of a population
6. The great efforts that are now being deployed have brought some benefits,
but the fact remains that malnutrition is more widespread than hunger, and takes
widely different forms. A person can be malnourished without being hungry. Yet
the organism's physical, intellectual and social potential is impaired just the
same(13). Malnutrition may be due to food quality, or a poorly balanced diet
(by excess or the lack of). Often it is also due to not having enough to eat and
becomes acute when there is a shortage of available food. Some call this
de-nutrition or under-nutrition(14). Malnutrition encourages the dissemination
of some infectious and endemic diseases and aggravates their consequences.
Further, it increases mortality rates, particularly among children under five
years of age.
Chief victims: the most vulnerable populations
7. The poor are the chief victims of malnutrition and hunger in the world.
The fact of being poor almost invariably means falling more easily prey to the
many hazards that threaten survival, and being less resistant to physical
sickness. Since the Eighties poverty has grown increasingly more serious and is
threatening ever larger numbers of people in most parts of the world. Within a
poor population, the first victims are always the weakest individuals: children,
pregnant women, nursing mothers, the sick and theelderly. There are also other
vulnerable groups that run a very high risk of malnutrition: refugees and
displaced persons, as well as victims of political turmoil.
But it is in the 42 Least Developed Countries (LDCs)—of which 28 are in
Africa alone—that hunger is most severe(15). "About 700 million people
in developing countries—20% of their population—still do not have
access to enough food to meet their basic daily needs for nutritional well-being"(16).
Hunger generates hunger
8. In the developing countries, it is commonplace for populations whose
livelihood depends on lowyielding subsistence agriculture, to suffer from hunger
during the interval between two harvests. When earlier harvests have also been
insufficient, food shortages can occur and give rise to an acute phase of
malnutrition. This weakens the population physically, placing them at risk just
when all their energy is required to prepare for the next harvest. Food
shortages place their future in jeopardy since the people eat crop seeds,
plunder natural resources, and accelerate soil erosion, degradation or
desertification on their lands.
In addition to the distinction between hunger (or famine) and malnutrition,
there is a third type of situation—food insecurity—which leads to
famine or malnutrition by making it impossible to plan and implementing any
long-term measures to foster and attain sustainable development(17).
Causes that may be remedied
9. Climatic factors and disasters of all kinds, however important, are far
from being the sole causes of hunger and malnutrition. In order to deal
effectively with the problem of hunger, all its causes, whether contingent or
permanent, and the linkages between them, should be considered. We will now
examine the main causes, grouping them into the usual categories: economic,
socio-cultural and political.
A) ECONOMIC CAUSES
Root causes
10. The primary cause of hunger is poverty. Food security essentially
depends upon an individual's purchasing power and not the physical availability
of food(18). Hunger exists in every country. It has resurfaced in European
countries, west and east alike, and is very widespread in countries that are
insufficiently and incorrectly developed. However, the history of the 20th
century shows that economic poverty is not an inevitability. Many countries have
taken off economically and are continuing to do so at this very moment. At the
same time still others are foundering after falling prey to national or
international policies based on false premisses.
Hunger stems simultaneously from inter alia:
a) non-optimum economic policies in every country since unsound
policies implemented in the developed countries indirectly, but strongly, affect
all the economically poor people in every country;
b) structures and customs that are ineffective, or which are
blatantly destructive of national wealth:
— at the domestic level in mis-developing countries(19) — the
large public or private organisations enjoying monopoly status (which is
sometimes inevitable) often hamper development instead of fostering it as
demonstrated by the adjustments undertaken in many countries over the past ten
years;
— at the domestic level in developed countries — shortcomings are
less noticeable at the international level, but are no less damaging, directly
or indirectly, to all the world's deprived;
— at the international level — constraints on trade and economic
incentives are often ill-conceived;
c) morally reprehensible conduct: the craving for money, power and a
public image, as ends in themselves, is evidenced by a diminished sense of
public service for the sole benefit of individuals or worthy groups; this is
accompanied by a high level of corruption in a variety of different forms, from
which no country may fairly claim to be exempt.
All this reveals the contingent nature of human activities. For despite the
best intentions, mistakes are often committed, creating unstable situations.
Pointing them out is one means of setting about to resolve them.
Economic development has to be cultivated with institutions and individuals
sharing in the responsibility for this. The most effective role that the State
can play is the one set out in the Church's social teaching and in the analyses
of the Church's social encyclicals.
The root cause of non-development or mis-development is the lack of will and
ability to freely serve humanity, by and for each human being, which is a fruit
of love. This is something that runs throughout this entire complex situation:
at every level of technology in the broad sense of the term, in structures,
legislation and in moral conduct. It is manifested in the design and performance
of acts and instruments whose economic scope may be broad or narrow.
The lack of skills, structures which are no longer capable of serving
cost-effectively, individual moral deviance and the absence of love are the
causes of hunger. Shortcomings in terms of any one of these points, anywhere in
the world, inevitably lead to a further reduction in the share rightfully due to
the hungry.
Recent economic and financial developments throughout the world are an
illustration of these complex phenomena. Technology and morality are closely
implicated in them and determine economic performance. This leads us to the
question of the debt crisis in the majority of the mis-developing countries
along with the adjustment measures that have been, or are about to be,
implemented.
Debt of the mis-developing countries
11. The unilateral massive rise in oil prices that occurred in 1973 and 1979
had far-reaching percussions on the non-oil producing countries. The releasing
of massive volumes of liquid funds, that the banking system endeavoured to
recycle, caused a general economic slow down, as a result of which the poor
countries suffered considerably. For a variety of reasons, during the Seventies
and Eighties most countries were able to borrow heavily at variable rates of
interest and the countries of Latin America and Africa wereable to develop their
public sector to an exceptional degree. This period of easy money led to many
excesses: unnecessary projects which were poorly designed or badly implemented,
the wholesale destruction of traditional economies, and the spread of corruption
in every country. Some countries in Asia managed to avoid these mistakes and
were able to develop very rapidly.
Soaring interest rates—caused by the mere interplay of unbridled and
probably uncontrollable market forces—placed most of Latin America and Asia
in a position of having to withhold debt repayments. This caused a flight of
capital abroad, which in the short-term, posed a threat to the local social
fabric, in many cases already mediocre and vulnerable, and also threatened the
very existence of the banking system. That made it possible to gauge the extent
of the damage caused in every sphere: economic, structural and moral. Purely
technical and organisational solutions were initially sought. But such measures,
which are necessary when sound, need to be supported by a thorough overhaul of
behaviour on the part of everyone, particularly people, who in every country and
at all levels are able to evade the enormous constraints which poverty imposes
on decisions regarding their lives.
At the beginning of the adjustment period, transfers became negative: loans
were blocked; oil prices were artificially pegged at unsustainable levels for
developing countries; raw material prices slumped as a result of the economic
slow-down due to the high price of oil compounded by the debt crisis itself;
excessively slow reaction was evidenced on the part of international
organisations, except the International Monetary Fund, to re-inject liquidity
into the system; etc. During all this time, living standards in the
over-indebted countries began to fall.
This demonstrates the knowledge required to manage money, and not merely
technical and economic know-how. The release of such huge volumes of liquid
funds created considerable structural and personal damage instead of leading to
any spectacular worldwide improvement in the plight of the most deprived.
There is a conclusion to be drawn from this: human advancement depends on
the human being's capacity to practise altruism, love in other words, which has
extremely important practical implications. In succinct and realistic terms,
love is not a luxury. It is a condition for the survival of a very large number
of human beings.
Structural adjustment programmes
12. The violence of the monetary phenomena has forced many countries to
adopt very stringent measures to tackle the crises and restore the balance in
key areas. By their very nature, these measures considerably reduce a country's
average purchasing power.
Enormous difficulties and sufferings are caused by these economic crises,
even though once they are resolved they eventually make it possible to rebuild a
better life.
The crises highlight the country's weaknesses which may be inherent or
acquired, including those originating from the development errors committed by
successive governments, their partners or even by the international community.
These weaknesses are manifold, and sometimes only become evident a
posteriori. Others are the result of a country's independence policies,
because what constituted the strength of the former colonial power may
constitute the weakness of the independent country, without the emergence of any
means of compensation for them. Then there is the major role played by
large-scale projects. These mark out moments of truth, where the need for
solidarity is particularly strongly felt in every country. But in reality, the
prime effect of these readjustment policies is a reduction in overall
expenditure, and hence a decline in incomes. The economically poor in the
country are faced with a single alternative: either to place their trust in
successive governments, or seek to get rid of them. They themselves often fall
victim to ambitious groups seeking power through ideology or out of greed,
ignoring all the rules of democracy, and where necessary calling on support from
outside forces.
Economic reforms demand great political decision-making skills on the part
of governments. This is one of the criteria by which to gauge the quality of
their work. Not only must the stabilisation planbe technically successful, it
must be able to keep the support of the majority of the people, including the
most deprived. This demands the ability to convince the other sectors of society
to bear a real part of the burden. These constitute only a small circle of
persons and are made-up of those with incomes of international standards and
civil servants, who in the past enjoyed standards that were enviable in their
country and who could find themselves with severely reduced resources, or even
poverty-stricken, from one day to the next. It is here that traditional
solidarity comes into play, with the poor always willing to support the members
of their family who have fallen back into a state of want from which they
believed they had emerged for ever.
Concern to protect the very poorest people in these readjustment processes
has only been gradually taken on board by national and international agencies.
It took several years for the concept of concomitant operations, targeted at the
most vulnerable groups, to become widely accepted. Furthermore, here as in
emergency situations, there is always a risk of applying the brakes too late and
too suddenly, with a whiplash effect that might considerably increase the
sufferings of those standing at the back of the queue.
Vast projects have been implemented in Africa and in Latin America(20)
involving:
— structural adjustment programmes, requiring stringent macroeconomic
measures;
— substantial new borrowing;
— far-reaching structural reforms to overcome local inadequacies partly
due to the existence of State monopolies which consume a substantial share of
national income without providing an adequate quality of service for the benefit
of everyone. In many of these countries all the public services have suffered,
and with weeds often growing among the good wheat, even efficient sectors have
been adversely affected as well(21).
Some governments, which are often little known on the international scene,
have acted admirably. They have found the political courage to adopt unavoidable
measures, while at the same time taking into account external pressure and
opinion, setting a fine example to increase cooperation and solidarity in their
countries, and avoiding any backlash. It should be noted that the influence that
the example of a leader has depends not only on his know-how and governance
skills, but also his capacity to curtail social injustice, which is always
present in such situations.
The developed countries must seriously ask themselves the following
question: is their attitude, and even their preferences regarding the
mis-developing countries, based on the social, technical and political
performance of their leadership, or is their support determined by other
standards?
B) SOCIO-CULTURAL CAUSES
The social situation
13. Certain socio-cultural factors have been shown to increase the risks of
famine and chronic malnutrition. Food taboos, the social and family status of
women—their real influence within the family, the lack of training for
mothers in feeding and nutrition techniques, widespread illiteracy, and
insecurity regarding work and unemployment are some of the factors that can
accumulate and cause malnutrition as well as dire poverty. Let us keep in mind
that not even the developed countries themselves are immune to this scourge. The
same factors create occasional or chronic malnutrition on the part of many of
the "new poor" just as they are beginning to catch up with the others
who live in affluence and over-consumption.
Demography
14. Ten thousand years ago, the world probably had a population of five
million. In the 17th century, with the dawning of the modern age, it had reached
five hundred million. Then the demographic growth rate began to rise more
steeply: to one billion by the beginning of the 19th century, 1.65 billion at
the beginning of the 20th, 3 billion in 1964, 4 billion in 1975, 5.2 billion in
1990, 5.5 billion in 1993, and 5.6 billion in 1994(22). For a time, the
demographic situation developed differently as between the "affluent"
and the "developing" countries(23). This situation is still evolving.
Let us not forget that proliferation is a reaction by nature—and
consequently by the human being—to threats to the survival of the species.
Research has shown that as peoples and nations become more affluent, high
birth rates and high death rates are reversed to low birth rates and low death
rates(24).The transition period may be critical in terms of food resources,
because the death rate falls before the birth rate. Technological changes must
accompany population growth, otherwise the regular agricultural production cycle
is broken due to the depletion of the soils, the reduction of fallow periods and
the lack of crop rotation.
The implications
15. Is rapid population growth a cause or a consequence of
under-development? Except in extreme cases, population density cannot account
for hunger. Let us look first at the following facts. It was in the
over-populated deltas and valleys of Asia that the "green revolution"
agricultural innovations were first applied. Yet, countries with small
populations, like Zaire or Zambia which could have fed a population 20 times the
size of their own without requiring any major irrigation schemes, are still
short of food. The reason lies in the skewed measures imposed by governments and
in economic management and policies, not in any objective causes or economic
poverty. Today it is said that there is a greater chance of reducing excessive
demographic growth by trying to reduce mass poverty than there is of combating
poverty merely by reducing the population growth rate(25).
The demographic situation will only evolve slowly so long as families in the
developing countries believe that their production capacity and their security
can only be guaranteed by having a large number of children. It should once
again be reiterated that it is generally economic and social changes(26) that
enable parents to accept the gift of a child. In this area, developments depend
to a very large extent on the parents' socio-cultural background. Thought should
therefore be given to educating couples in responsible planning of family size
and the spacing of births in full respect for moral and ethicalprinciples and in
harmony with the true nature of the human being(27).
C) POLITICAL CAUSES
The influence of politics
16. Depriving people of food has been used throughout history, and is still
used today, as a political or military weapon. In some cases this is a veritable
crime against humanity.
There have been many such cases in the 20th century, such as:
a) Stalin's systematic withholding of food from the Ukrainian
peasants around 1930, causing the deaths of some 8 million people. This crime,
which remained unknown, or almost, for a long time, was confirmed with the
opening up of the Kremlin archives.
b) The recent sieges in Bosnia, particularly of Sarajevo, when even
humanitarian aid itself was held hostage.
c) The resettlement of whole populations in Ethiopia to enable the
one-party government to gain political control. Hundreds of thousands of people
died as a result of the famine caused by forced migration and by abandoning the
crops.
d) The cutting off of food to Biafra in the Seventies was used as a
weapon against political secession.
The collapse of the Soviet Union has helped to remove one of the causes of
civil wars, the provocation by direct Soviet intervention, or reaction to its
intervention including: revolutions resolving nothing, displaced populations,
the breakdown of organised agriculture, tribal strife and genocide. However many
situations still remain, or have re-emerged, which could give rise to the same
phenomena once again. Even though possibly not on the same scale, these are no
less damaging to the people. Today's situations are mainly a matter of resurgent
nationalism being fostered by a few ideologically driven regimes, local
repercussions of struggles for influence between the developed countries, and
power struggles in certain countries, especially in Africa.
Also noteworthy are the embargoes, imposed for political reasons, against
countries such as Cuba or Iraq. These are regimes, deemed to be a threat to
international security, which keep their own people hostage. Indeed, it is the
people themselves who are the first to fall victim to such acts of force. This
is why the costs, in humanitarian terms, of such decisions must be carefully
taken into account. Furthermore, some leaders play on the misery of their
people, brought about by their actions, in order to force the international
community to resume supplies. These are situations that have to be dealt with on
a case-by-case basis in the spirit of the World Declaration on Nutrition which
states that "Food aid must not be denied because of political affiliation,
geographic location, gender, age, ethnic, tribal or religious identity"(28).
Lastly, political actions can also have repercussions in terms of hunger. On
a number of occasions we have seen developed countries, with agricultural
surpluses, exporting these surpluses (for example wheat) free of cost to
mis-developing countries whose staple diet is rice. The purpose is to underpin
domestic commodity prices. These free exports have had very negative effects,
altering the people's eating habits and discouraging the local farmers, who need
to be strongly encouraged to produce more.
Concentration of resources
17. Economic disparities within the mis-developing countries are greater
than those that exist in developed countries, or even between the countries
themselves. Wealth and power are highly concentrated in a restricted but complex
section of society that is in contact with the international arena and is able
to control the State apparatus, which is itself full of shortcomings. This holds
up all chance ofimprovement, and even causes economic and social decline.
Differences in living standards not only give rise to conflict which can lead to
a spiral of violence, but these differences further encourage patronage as the
only means of achieving personal self-fulfilment. As a result, all purely
economic initiatives are paralysed, while the altruism that exists in all
traditional societies is seriously jeopardised. In such situations, the State
often has a major part to play, enabling it to encourage the export sector—which
is good in itself—but leaving little profit for the local people as a whole.
In other cases, as a result of weakness or political ambition, the
authorities set agricultural commodity prices at such low levels that the small
farmers actually subsidise the town-dwellers, which encourages rural exodus. The
mass media, electronics and advertising also contribute to the population drain
from the countryside. Development aid to such countries then becomes a more or
less indirect source of encouragement to the governments that pursue these
dangerous policies, benefiting as they do from this financial support which is
totally illegitimate, because these are policies that fly in the face of the
real interests of their people. The industrial countries should ask themselves
whether they may unfortunately have been sending out negative signals in this
regard over so many years.
Economic and social de-structuring
18. Economic and social de-structuring stems both from bad economic policies
and national and international political pressure (Cf. § Nos. 11-13 and
17). Here are a few of the most frequently found and most harmful examples of
this:
a) National policies, which artificially lower agricultural
commodity prices to the detriment of local food producers, under pressure from
the deprived town dwellers who are seen as a potential threat to the political
stability of the country. This situation became widespread in Africa during
1975-85 and caused local output to slump. Many countries with a substantial
agricultural potential, such as Zaire and Zambia, became net food importers for
the first time.
b) Most industrial countries pursue a policy which widely protects
their own agriculture and encourages overproduction which is exported at prices
lower than the domestic level (the price of dumping). Without such protection
world prices would be higher, benefiting other producing countries. The
beneficiaries of such protection in Europe are currently enjoying an unfair
advantage after years of receiving production incentives which have led to
serious de-structuring of the whole agricultural system. Although this policy is
supported by local public opinion at large, it may be basically contrary to the
general interest of world consumers, privileged and poorest alike. In protected
countries, this is the expense of protection, in countries without such
protection it is the local farmers who, as an essential component of the well
being of any country, are penalised by importation at reduced prices thus
lowering the domestic agriculture prices and speeding the demise of the local
farmers and their migration to cities.
c) Traditional food crops are often threatened by poorly targeted
economic development. For example, traditional commodities are being replaced by
industrial agriculture for both export (large volumes of agricultural
commodities are earmarked for export and are dependent upon international
agricultural markets) and local substitute commodities (for example, sugar-cane
in Brazil to produce alcohol for vehicle fuel, in order to reduce oil imports,
has caused the migration of large numbers of uprooted peasants).
D) THE EARTH CAN FEED ALL ITS INHABITANTS
The great progress made by humanity
19. Despite the enormous errors mentioned above, it should not be forgotten
that no less spectacular progress has been responsible for increasing the world
population from 3 to 5.3 billion over 30 years (1960-1990)(29). In the
developing countries, "... life expectancy at birth [has risen] from 46
years in 1960 to 62 years in 1987. They halved the mortality rates for children
under five and immunised two-thirds of all one-year-olds against major childhood
diseases... The per capita average calorie supply increased by 20 per cent
between 1965 and 1985"(30).
Between 1950 and 1980 total world food production doubled and at the present
time "globally there is enough food for all"(31). The fact that people
continue to starve despite this shows that the problem is structural, and that "inequitable
access is the main problem"(32). It is a mistake to gauge the actual food
consumption of households merely by the statistical parameter of per capita
cereals availability. Hunger is not a problem of availability, but of meeting
demand. It is an issue of poverty. It should also be noted that the survival of
a multitude of individuals is guaranteed by the informal economy; by definition
this is undeclared, difficult to quantify and unreliable.
Agri-food markets
20. The world agri-food markets trade in a certain number of commodities
which are not always the ones consumed in most of the mis-developing
countries(33). Excessive price fluctuations are against the interests of both
producers and consumers. These fluctuations are caused by spontaneous adjustment
mechanisms and amplified by specific features of the relevant markets. Attempts
to stabilise them have all proven fairly unsatisfactory, if not to say harmful,
to producers. Furthermore, the raising of prices is made impossible by way the
markets themselves operate. The small number of international trading
corporations prevents price manipulation, and constitutes an impenetrable
barrier to any new market entrants. This is always unhealthy. Developing
production capacities has much more to do with disseminating advances in
production techniques (progress in genetics and implementation). We note that
Indonesia's average rice output has risen from 4 to 15 tons per hectare in the
space of one generation, far outstripping its already record population growth
rate. In most countries where agriculture is making progress, yields are
improving to such an extent that output is increasing, sometimes very steeply,
despite the sharp decline in the number of farmers.
Modern agriculture
21. Intensive farming is increasingly being accused of damaging the
environment and threatening such natural resources as water and land,
particularly because of the ill-advised use of fertilisers and plant health
products. A preliminary definition of agricultural intensification is the
increase in the ratio of intermediate consumption—mainly by industry—to
agricultural acreage employed. Agricultural technologies are now becoming
independent of the land, which is their natural medium. The reciprocity which
formerly linked them is being reduced and replaced by a more hazardous duality
between agricultural technology and the economic environment. Agricultural
intensification generally requires substantial capital investment. But most of
the developing countries still practise subsistence farming, based mainly on
human "capital", with limited technical resources and difficulties in
finding adequate water supplies. Even though the"green revolution" has
been fairly successful, it has not managed to solve the food production problems
for a large number of developing countries.
It is certainly possible to predict progress to improve intensive farming,
and to limit damage to the environment. But as in the developed countries, other
production systems should be used which will better conserve natural resources
and ensure widespread ownership of production land. Crop and livestock farmers'
associations, joint management of water supplies, and the creation of
cooperatives should be encouraged to move in this direction.
II
ETHICAL CHALLENGES TO BE TAKEN UP BY ALL
Ethical dimension of the problem
22. In order to make progress with solving the problem of hunger and
malnutrition throughout the world, it is indispensable to grasp the ethical
nature of the whole issue.
If the cause of hunger is a moral evil, above and beyond all the physical,
structural and cultural causes, the challenges are also of a moral nature. This
is capable of motivating all men and women of goodwill who believe in the
universal values of every culture, particularly Christians who experience the
preferential relationship which the Almighty Lord wishes to establish with all
men and women without distinction.
This challenge involves: acquiring a better understanding of phenomena; of
people's capacity for mutual service—which may be done merely through the
interplay of well-understood economic forces: and even doing away with
corruption of every kind. Apart from all this, the challenge lies above all at
the level of freedom for every person to cooperate in the advancement of all
human beings and the integral human being in their daily work, namely, by
working together to foster the development of the common good(34). This kind of
development involves social justice and the universal destination of the goods
of the earth, the practice of solidarity and subsidiarity, peace, and respect
for the physical environment. This is the direction that must be taken in order
to restore hope and build up a world that is more welcoming to future
generations.
In order to make this progress possible, the organic pursuit of the common
good must be protected, promoted, and where necessary, reactivated as a central
component of the basic motivations in the thinking and work of everyone engaged
in politics and the economy, at all levels and in every country.
Personal and institutional motivations are necessary to ensure the sound
operation of society, which includes families. But all people must accept this
conversion personally and all together, so that striving for the common good is
not sacrificed to serving their own strictly personal interests, or the
interests of their kinsmen, employers, clans or countries, however legitimate
all these may be.
The principles which the Church has gradually emphasised in her social
teaching therefore provide valuable guidance for combating hunger. The pursuit
of the common good combines the following:
— the quest for greater efficiency in the management of earthly goods;
— greater respect for social justice, which is possible through the
universal destination of goods;
— the skilful and constant practice of subsidiarity, which assures
those in power against having the power taken from them, which in reality is a
power to serve others;
— the practice of solidarity, which prevents the appropriation of
financial resources by the affluent and protects all people from being excluded
from social and economic life, and deprived of their fundamental dignity.
It is therefore the whole of the social teaching of the Church which must
imbue the thinking of our leaders in all that is done, whether consciously or
otherwise.
This statement might well be greeted with scepticism or even cynicism. Many
leaders operate in a harsh, sometimes cruel environment, which gives rise to
distress and causes them to proudly seek power for the sake of power and to
retain it. Such individuals might perhaps be inclined to consider ethical
considerations as handicaps. Yet, our frequent daily experience, in a wide
variety of different environments, shows this not to be the case. Only balanced
development for the common good will prove authentic and contribute in the long
term to social stability. At every level and in every country, many people are
working constantly and discreetly, respectful of the legitimate interests of
their fellow beings.
The huge task facing Christians everywhere is to foster conduct of this
kind. Like a small amount of yeast in very hard dough, they are called by a
close adhesion to the love which Our Lord has for all people. A love which one
experiences in the very depths of their being.
This exciting task is to set an example at every level: technical,
organisational, moral and spiritual. It involves mutual assistance at every
level of responsibility, which includes all those who are not "excluded"
by their own social conditions.
Love of our neighbour in order to achieve development
Striving in this way for the common good must necessarily be underpinned by
concern for and love of humanity. In the most varied situations, people are
faced daily with the alternative between personal and collective
self-destruction or love for our neighbour. Love for our neighbour therefore
demonstrates our awareness that there is a
23. Striving in this way for the common good must necessarily be underpinned
by responsibility from which one cannot shrink when faced with our own
limitations, or with the enormous magnitude of the duties to be performed out of
love for all men and women. "How would history judge a generation which had
all the means to feed the population of the planet, and yet with fratricidal
indifference refused to do so?... Would a world in which poverty fails to
encounter lifegiving love not be a desert(35)?"
Love is far more than mere giving. Development is cultivated through the
work of those who have the greatest courage, the greatest competence and
honesty. These leaders feel solidarity with all humanity and humanity is
affected, to a greater or lesser degree, whether near or far, by what these
individuals do or should be doing. This concrete universal responsibility is an
essential manifestation of altruism.
Solidarity is obviously a demand that is placed on all. Fortunately, it is
not necessary to wait for the majority of humanity to be converted to love of
their neighbour in order to gather the fruits of the work of those acting in
their own particular situation without waiting. Hope must be drawn from the
results of the work of such persons who, in their daily work at all levels, act
in the service of the integral human being and of all humanity.
Social justice and the universal destination of goods
24. At the very heart of social justice lies the principle of the universal
and common destination of the goods of the earth. Pope John Paul II has
expressed it in the following words: "God gave the earth to the whole human
race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favouring
anyone"(36).This constant affirmation in the Christian tradition is not
sufficiently reiterated, even though it is evidently of relevance to the whole
of humanity, irrespective of creed. This axiom is a necessary foundation on
which to build a society based on justice, peace and solidarity. For, generation
after generation, we must see ourselves as the temporary stewards of the
resources of the earth and the production system. In consideration of the
purposes of creation, the right to property is not absolute. It is one of the
expressions of the dignity of each person. However, it is only just if it is
ordered to the common good and when it assists the advancement of all. This is
exercised and recognised in different ways in different cultures.
Costly abuse of the common good: the "structures of sin"
25. Ignorance of the common good goes hand in hand with the exclusive and
sometimes excessive pursuit of particular goods such as money, power or
reputation, when viewed as absolutes to be sought for their own sakes: namely as
idols. This is what created the "structures of sin"(37), all those
places and circumstances in which habits are perverse and which demand proof of
heroism on the part of all new arrivals if one is to avoid acquiring such
habits.
The "structures of sin" are numerous and vary in scope. Some are
worldwide—for example the mechanisms and the conduct which creates hunger—while
others are on a much smaller scale but equally capable of creating imbalances
making it more difficult to do good to the people affected by them. These "structures"
always generate high costs in human terms and are the places in which the common
good is destroyed.
Their costly and degrading effects in economic terms, are less often
commented upon. One could cite a number of striking examples of this(38).
Development is not only hampered by ignorance and incompetence. There are also
many large-scale "structures of sin" which deliberately steer the
goods of the earth away from their true purpose, that of serving the good of
all, toward private and sterile ends in a process which spreads contagiously.
It is obvious that the human being cannot subject and dominate the earth
effectively while adoring the false gods of money, power and reputation
considered to be ends in themselves and not means for serving each man and women
and all humanity. Greed, pride and vanity blind those who fall prey to them,
eventually preventing them from realising the limitations of their perceptions
and the self-destructive nature of their actions.
In view of the universal destination of goods, money, power and reputation
must be sought so as to:
a) create the means of production of goods and services which will
have a truly useful social purpose and promote the common good;
b) share with the deprived, who embody the need for the common good
in the eyes of all men and women of goodwill. The deprived are the living
witnesses of the lack of this common good. For Christians, the deprived are
indeed the cherished Children of God, who comes to visit us through them and in
them.
Pursuing these riches as an absolute good in themselves, robs them wholly or
partially of utility for the common good. The world economic system is: globally
mediocre — in comparison with the peak performances achieved in some
countries for quite considerable periods of time, so costly in human terms (when
it functions properly and where it does not function at all), paying dearly for
bad habits and imposing a veritable moral yoke on people.
Conversely, as soon as groups of men and women begin working together in
order to take due account of the need to serve the whole community, and each
individual member of it, remarkable developments can be achieved. People
previously deemed rather useless become outstanding for the quality of their
services, and a positive effect gradually improves the material, psychological
and moral conditions of their lives. This is really the "obverse" of
the "structures of sin". One might call them the "structures of
the common good" which pave the way to the "civilisation of man"(39).
Our experience in such situations, gives some idea of what a world might be if
people were more concerned about the common interests and the fate of each man
and woman, in all they do and in the exercise of all their responsibilities
Giving preference to listening to the poor and serving them: sharing
26. If the poor, in the economic sense of the term, bear witness to the lack
of concern for the common good, they have something specific to tell us. They
have their own opinions and experiences with regard to real daily life about
which the better-off know nothing. As John Paul II said in his Encyclical Letter
Centesimus annus "... it will be necessary above all 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 advancement of the poor constitutes a great opportunity for the
moral, cultural and even economic growth of all humanity(40)."
The views of those living in poverty—which are no more accurate or
complete than those of the leaders—are though essential to leaders if they
desire to ensure long-term work which does not lead to selfdestruction.
Embarking upon difficult and costly social and economic policies, without taking
account of the perception of reality by the most humble members of society, can
eventually lead to extremely costly dead-ends for the whole world. This is what
has happened in the case of Third World debt. If the lenders and the borrowers
had heeded the personal opinions of the poorest people, as one of the essential
elements of reality, greater wisdom would have meant greater caution, and in
very many countries the adventure would not have turned out so badly, or it may
have turned out well.
Considering the complexity of the problems to be solved, or rather the
complexity of living conditions to be improved, giving preference to heeding the
poor will prevent us from falling into the slavery of short-term perspective,
technocracy, bureaucracy, ideology, or idolatry regarding the role of the State
or the role of the market. Each of these has its essential usefulness, but only
as a means and never as an absolute end.
Intermediate entities have the main function of ensuring that the voices of
those living in poverty are heard and of collecting their views, needs and
desires. But these entities are often quite inadequate for the task, suffering
either from the fact of occupying a monopoly position which leads them to
cultivate their own power, or competing with others who seek to use the poor as
a means of acquiring power. The work of the trade unions is therefore
particularly necessary, verging on heroism when they strive to perform such an
essential function without being destroyed or taken over(41).
Under these conditions, sharing becomes genuine cooperation and
collaboration in which every person contributes to all what the human community
needs. The poorest play their role, which is essential, particularly in view of
the fact that in reallity they are excluded(42). This is a paradoxical situation
which should not surprise the Christian.
The duty to give every person the same right of access to the indispensable
minimum to live on does not stem merely from a moral imperative to share with
the poor, which is already a major obligation. The duty is also to reincorporate
those living in poverty into the community as a whole, which without them, tends
to wither and can eventually be destroyed. People living in poverty do not
belong on the sidelines, in a marginalised position. Everything must be done to
prevent this. They must be placed at the very centre of our concerns, at the
centre of the human family. It is there the poor can play a unique role within
the community.
It is in this perspective that social justice, which is also commutative
justice, acquires its full significance. As the basis of every action in the
defence of rights, it guarantees social cohesion, peaceful co-existence between
nations, but also their common development.
An integrated society
27. The concept of justice rooted in human solidarity, and by that very
characteristic requiring the strongest to come to the aid of the weakest, should
guide our steps wherever the voice of the poor is heard, working to create a
world in which justice, peace and charity are jointly guaranteed.
Societies cannot be properly built up by excluding some of their members. To
be consistent, thisevidently means that people living in poverty are also
entitled to organise themselves so as to better obtain assistance for enabling
them to free themselves from poverty.
Peace, a balance of rights
28. Lasting peace is not the result of a balance of forces, but of a balance
of rights. Peace is not the fruit of the victory of the strongest over the
weakest, but fruit of the victory of justice over unjust privileges, of freedom
over tyranny, of truth over falsehood within and among peoples(43), of
development over hunger, poverty or humiliation. In order to establish true
peace and real international security, it is not sufficient to prevent war and
conflict. Development must also be fostered, creating the right conditions to
fully guarantee fundamental human rights(44). In this context, democracy and
disarmament become two of the requirements of peace, which is indispensable for
all genuine development.
Disarmament, an urgent need to be met
29. Regional conflicts have cost the lives of about seventeen million people
in under fifty years. "In the 1980's, world military expenditures grew to
unprecedented peacetime level; at an estimated [annual] $$1 trillion [one
million million], they accounted for roughly 5 per cent of total world income"(45).
This demonstrates the importance and the urgent need for all political and
economic leaders to ensure that the vast amounts of money earmarked for death,
in the northern hemisphere as in the southern hemisphere, should henceforth be
earmarked for life. Such an attitude would be the practical implementation of
the moral grounds militating in favour of progressive disarmament. Such a course
would also provide the opportunity to release substantial financial resources,
for the benefit of developing countries, and vital for their authentic
progress(46). One particularly resilient "structure of sin" is the
export of weapons. This occurs in quantities which far exceed the lawful
self-defence needs of the purchasing countries, or even the use by international
traffickers, whose catalogues, produced for the benefit of those who can afford
to pay, contain the most highly sophisticated weapons. In this field, corruption
is rife; but the evil caused is even more deep-seated. Congratulations are due
to those governments which, on coming to power after regimes that had formerly
committed their countries to purchasing weapons far in excess of their needs,
have found the courage to terminate such agreements with the risk of losing
goodwill and the support of arms exporting countries.
Respect for the environment
30. At present, nature is teaching all a lesson in solidarity that could
easily be forgotten. In the very act of producing food, everyone discovers that
they are either active or passive component parts of an ecosystem. A new sphere
of responsibility is opening up to people's consciences.
The pretense of pretending to want to provide more food to more people and
at the same time weaken agriculture cannot continue. Agriculture seems to be
contributing more pollution (with the wholesale use of fertiliser, pesticides
and machines) as it reaches the industrial stage, before having developed the
capacity to work without polluting. In addition to the other elements necessary
in life, the atmosphere, water, soil and the woodlands are all threatened by
pollution, over-consumption, man-made desertification and deforestation. In the
space of fifty years, half the tropical forests have been cleared, more often
than not in the quest for more land or because of short-term policies to
intensify farming in order to offset the debt burden. In the poorest regions,
desertification is being caused by survival practices that actually are
increasing poverty. These include over-grazing as well as felling trees and
shrubs for cooking and heating(47).
Ecology and equitable development
31. It is urgently necessary to manage this planet in an ecologically
sustainable manner. From the viewpoint of agri-food production, which is already
substantial, there are two elements to be considered. First of all, this sort of
environmentally-friendly management will have a cost which will need to be
incorporated into economic activity(48). We should be asking ourselves whether
it will always be those living in poverty who have to bear this burden to the
detriment of their nutrition. Secondly, of concern is the gaining of a better
understanding of linkage of ecology and the economy within the current notion of
sustainable development. But this objective must not distract from the need to
put even greater effort into promoting equitable development. In the end,
development cannot be sustainable unless equitable. Otherwise it is likely that
the present distortions will be compounded by new ones.
Taking up the challenge together
32. Hunger and malnutrition require specific actions which cannot be
separated from that of striving to achieve the integral development and
advancement of all human beings and peoples. Faced with the magnitude of this
phenomenon, the Catholic Church must increasingly contribute to improving the
situation. She is therefore appealing to everyone for their participation,
concerted effort and perseverance.
Fortunately, much has already been done by individuals, non-governmental
organisations, government authorities and international organisations to combat
hunger. We would merely recall the Freedom From Hunger campaign and other
initiatives in which Christians readily take part.
Acknowledging the contribution of the poor to democracy
33. There is little appreciation of how dynamic the poor really are. To
remedy this, a great many attitudes and practices — economic, social,
cultural and political — have to be changed. When people living in poverty
are excluded from taking part in drafting projects of relevance to them, history
has demonstrated that, overall, little benefit is derived from such projects.
The solidarity of the human community must be built up. It will not be possible
to learn to share our daily bread unless it is agreed to re-direct our
consciences and work throughout the whole of society(49). Such attitudes lead to
genuine democracy.
Democracy is generally acknowledged to be essential to human development
because it enables everyone to play a responsible part in the governance of
society. Moreover, the two go together and the weakness of one can jeopardise
the other. If the principle of equality yields to force, the place of the poor
in society may be reduced to the bare minimum. A democracy is judged in terms of
the way it manages to dovetail freedom and solidarity, radically distancing
itself from absolute liberalism or other doctrines that deny the sense of
freedom or which act as stumbling blocks to genuine solidarity(50).
Community initiatives
34. Faced with misery and poverty, more people and groups are increasingly
choosing to take part in community action everywhere. These initiatives must be
strongly encouraged. At the present time, more countries are increasingly
supporting people's participation. But, in some places attempts are still being
made to thwart these initiatives, where they are a source of irritation—sometimes
with very dire consequences—even though they are the indispensable
foundations of genuine development.
The Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) set up locally to undertake
development work have encouraged the constitution of a new people-based civil
society in many developing countries. These NGOshave devised a wide range of
different ways to work together and provide support. Thanks to the impetus given
by the people who have paved the way, many of the very poorest people are now
able to break free of poverty and improve their plight in terms of hunger and
malnutrition.
Over the last few years, Catholic International Associations and New
Ecclesial Communities have embarked on initiatives in the socio-economic field.
In combating hunger and poverty those groups have been basing their work on the
medieval guilds, and above all, the cooperative unions in the 19th century when
advocates of the common good created institutions according to the spirit of the
Gospel or based on social solidarity. The first person to emphasise the need to
create organisations for social advancement was the Quaker P. C. Plockboy
(1695). Other pioneers of notoriety are: Félicité Robert de
Lamennais (1782-1854), Adolf Kolping (1856), Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Baron
Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler (1811-1877). Today, associations are coming into
being to advance the common good of society, and to stave off selfishness, pride
and greed which are often the laws that govern community life. These experiences
throughout history and the achievements of these new initiatives bode well for
the future(51).
Access to credit
35. "One of the great successes of the NGOs has been to give the poor
access to credit(52)." This access by people living in poverty has become a
defining practice today, thus enabling an informal subsistence economy to make
progress towards the formation of a real grassroots economic fabric. Perhaps it
is not yet possible to be able to calculate the Gross National Product (GNP)
accurately, but its importance also lies in that which it signifies and heralds.
Supporting community initiatives and relying on local partners prevents the
persistence of an aid-driven approach, making it possible to gradually lay the
foundations for integral development(53).
Paramount role of women
36. Women play a primary role in combating hunger and fostering development,
but their role is not always adequately acknowledged and appreciated. It is
important to emphasise the essential role that women play in the survival of
whole populations, especially in Africa. Often it is the women who produce the
bulk of food for their family. Particularly in the developing countries, they
are responsible for providing their family members with a wholesome and balanced
diet. However, women become the first victims of decisions taken without their
knowledge, such as decisions to abandon particular food crops and local markets
of which they are the main operators. Such treatment shows a failure to respect
women and hampers development. Under these conditions, the transition to the
market economy and the introduction of technologies can, despite the best
intentions, make the drudgery of women even worse.
Malnutrition particularly affects women who are the first to suffer. This
has further repercussions on their childbearing and affects the health and
education prospects of their young children.
But the purpose of this effort, to highlight the role of women in the fight
against hunger and malnutrition and in favour of development, must form part of
a more ambitious framework. One designed to enhance the social status of women
in the poor countries, by providing them with greater access to health care,
vocational training and credit. This will enable women to make their full
contribution in increasing production, fostering development, and in the
economic and political evolution of their countries(54).
Progress must, however, ensure that the roles of men and women are
preserved, without driving a wedge between them and without feminising men or
masculinising women(55). As the status of women improves, as is hoped, sight
should not be lost of the attention women must provide to newly-created and
developing life. Some developing countries are setting a positive example by
curbing excesses that now occur in the West with regard to altering the
sensitivity of women, without shutting women up in their traditional role. In
this sphere, the mistakes made in the past must not be repeated by playing down
traditional structuresto boost western models, which are particularly unsuitable
for local situations if adopted without adjustment.
Integrity and a social sense
37. Lastly, it is absolutely essential to motivate all the parties acting in
society and in the economy to favour development policies whose priority
objective is to give all people an equal chance to live with dignity, making all
the necessary effort and sacrifices to achieve this. However, this is impossible
if those who occupy posts of responsibility fail to give unambiguous signs of
their integrity and to demonstrate their sense of the common good. The flight of
capital, wasting or misappropriating resources for the benefit of a minority
based on kinship, social and ethnic ties or political affiliations are
widespread and well-known to the public. Such errant behaviour is frequently
denounced. But this does not really encourage those responsible to refrain from
these activities, which are damaging to those living in poverty particularly
when done on a large scale(56).
It is often corruption(57) that hampers the reforms needed to pursue the
common good and ensure justice, which go hand in hand. Corruption has many
causes. Yet, it is always a very serious abuse of the trust placed by society,
in those appointed to represent that society, and who exploit this social
authority for personal gain. Corruption is one of the constituent elements of
many "structures of sin", and the cost to the planet is far superior
to the sum total of all the funds embezzled.
III
TOWARDS AN ECONOMY BASED ON GREATER SOLIDARITY
To better serve humanity and all human beings
38. Increased wealth is necessary for development. However, major
macroeconomic reforms—which always hold down incomes—can fail when the
structural reforms are not undertaken with the necessary political courage and
energy. This is true particularly in the public sector when reforming the role
of the state, as well as political and social obstacles. These reforms cause
suffering which is to no avail, and precipitate yet another reversal. These
stringent and sometimes excessively harsh reforms are always accompanied by aid
from the international community. But the international community also brings
pressure to bear in the political sphere, often at the request of politicians,
in order to force the country to face its choices and help the politicians take
decisions which the developed countries adopted at the time of post-war
reconstruction.
Part of the duty of international institutions is, after consultations with
governments, to incorporate into the plans drawn up by governments targeted
provisions to relieve the suffering of those who will be most seriously impacted
by these necessary measures. It is the duty of the International Institutions to
foster trust and confidence in the national leaders so as to enable the country
to qualify for financial support from public and private lenders. International
institutions must also bring pressure to bear on the government so that every
sector of society can play a part in the joint effort. Otherwise, the government
will not be able to move in the direction of the common good and social justice,
which are so difficult to safeguard even to a minor degree, under these
circumstances.
In order to achieve this, the personnel of international institutions need
to work, as they are fortunately accustomed to doing, with technical rigour. But
they must also show concern for the people. This concern is something that
cannot be inculcated by bureaucratic instructions or by a purely
economicsoriented background. This is precisely where giving preference to
listening to those living in poverty must be particularly carefully practised.
Specific provisions must be envisaged for this, by joint agreement with the NGOs
and Catholic Associations, both of which are in contact with and at the service
of the most vulnerable people. One can never emphasise enough the importance of
this point. It is essential. Yet national and international leaders easily
neglect it because the technical work already gives rise to considerable
difficulties.
Generally speaking, all international and national organisations having
permanent and on-going contacts with each mis-developing country, must establish
personal and unofficial lines of communication between the people in the field
serving the population and the technical personnel defining the reform plans.
This has to be done in a spirit of mutual trust between people sharing a common
service to all humanity and each man and woman, so as to avoid falling prey to
economism and ideology.
Channelling the work of all to the same end
39. The richest countries have a major responsibility in the process of
reforming the world economy. In recent times, at least, they have given priority
to relations with countries undergoing economic takeoff—that is to say, the
true developing countries—and also with countries in Eastern Europe whose
development can pose a geographically close threat.
The rich countries have their own economically poor, and need to embark on
difficult reforms intheir own territories. They are, therefore, tempted to
relegate the economically poor in the mis-developing countries to a secondary
plane. "We are not responsible for the world's poverty", is something
that one hears frequently in the globally rich countries.
If such an attitude were to become common, it would be both unworthy and
short-sighted. All people, regardless of location, but particularly those who
possess economic resources and wield political authority, must constantly allow
themselves to be challenged by the poverty of the most deprived so that the
interests of those living in poverty are taken into account in decision-making
and action. This is an appeal addressed to everyone responsible for taking
decisions affecting the developing countries.
It is also addressed to all, in every country and at the international
level, who are de facto holding up the possibility of pursuing the
common good in order to protect interests which, in themselves, may be wholly
legitimate. Protecting these vested interests in such countries may cause hunger
to persist in some parts of the world without being able to accurately identify
a causal link or even victims. That makes it easy to deny their existence. Other
forms of conservatism, at other levels and in other places, can also contribute
to these same bottlenecks.
The reform of international trade continues apace and continues to be
advocated. It concerns, above all, the poor people in the affluent countries.
This is why it is vital for these priorities not to conceal the plight of people
living in poverty in the poor countries, who have virtually no-one to speak out
for them internationally. They must be given back their central place in
international concerns, in common with the other priorities. However, the "poverty
eradication" priorities that the World Bank laid down several years ago are
extremely welcome.
The leaders of developing countries should not rely on some hypothetical
international reform before embarking on reforms in their own countries. Such
reforms are often needed, evidently, to foster some degree of economic take-off.
This take-off does not depend on any specific recipes, but its requirements
demand a bold and unflagging implementation of simple rules. Rules which make it
possible for those who are able to take sound initiatives to do so and to retain
part of the rewards of the efforts. Further, they prevent persons incapable of
drawing on national resources from being rewarded without regard for their own
contribution. Nations must realise that they "are primarily responsible,
and that they are the principal artisans in the promotion of their own economic
development and social progress(58)." As identified earlier, it is the
responsibility of governments and institutions dealing with the developing
countries, to clearly spell out their preference for responsible and fearless
attitudes in the service of the national communities.
Political will of the industrial countries
40. Authorities of globally rich countries must influence public opinion to
become sensitive to the plight of the poor, whether near or far. It is also
their responsibility to strongly support the work being done by international
organisations to deal with these sufferings, helping them to adopt immediate and
enduring measures to root out hunger worldwide. This is what the Church has been
demanding of everyone with such determination for over a hundred years,
insisting that, among other things, the rights of the weakest are protected by
the authorities themselves(59).
In order to sensitise and mobilise the international community, particularly
with regard to the ethical dimension of these issues, outspoken references are
made in many texts published by such bodies as the Economic and Social Council
(particularly the Commission on Human Rights) and UNICEF. Restricting our
references to the works published by FAO, which is well-known in this
connection, there is striking evidence of the convergence just mentioned between
the teaching of the Church and the increasing efforts deployed by the
international community in a number of instruments such as: the Peasants'
Charter set out in the World Declaration on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development (1979)(60), the World Food Security Compact (1985)(61),
The World Declaration on Nutrition and the Plan of Action adopted
by the World Nutrition Conference (1992)(62).These are included without
overlooking the various politically and morallymandatory codes of best practice
or international undertakings on pesticides, plant genetic resources, etc. It is
important to note that this ethical point of view was recently adopted by the
World Bank(63).
Human development will not come about as a result of economic mechanisms
operating alone; a belief that all that is necessary is to encourage them. The
economy will only become more human and humane if a whole range of reforms are
carried out at every level. Designed to provide the best possible service for
the genuine common good, these reforms must take an ethical approach based on
the infinite value of each man and woman and of all humanity. That is an economy
which allows itself to be inspired by "the need to build relationships
between peoples on the basis of a constant "exchange of gifts', a real "culture
of giving' which should make every country prepared to meet the needs of the
less fortunate"(64).
Establishing fair terms of trade
41. If the markets are to operate in a way that fosters development, und
regulation is needed. The market has its own laws which range beyond the
decision-making capacity of those involved, however numerous and sufficiently
independent they may be. This is the case for raw materials markets, despite the
great efforts undertaken by governments — also a number of international
institutions, particularly UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development) — as well as by the private sector. For political and
humanitarian reasons it is not possible to ignore the price levels resulting
from the blind operation of the markets. However, it is essential to prevent any
attempts to manipulate them.
It is the responsibility of the importing countries to remove barriers and
to refrain from raising new ones to selectively keep out exports from countries
where a major proportion of the population is suffering from hunger. Importing
countries must also ensure that the profits from such commercial operations
largely benefit the most deprived. This is a very sensitive issue which requires
a fearless and unambiguous attitude.
Overcoming the debt problem
42. As indicated earlier, since 1985 the international community has been
managing the debt burden. Its prime concern is to avoid the destruction of the
financial system which holds together the financial institutions in every
country. It is thanks to this system that, in different countries, and from one
crisis to another, the debts have been consolidated and all the debtors of one
and the same country placed on an equal level. This is neither legal nor
socially just. Conversely, all the lenders have been led to waive a proportion
of their debt claims, varying in each case. This demands a great deal of
fair-mindedness and vigilance so that the brave and reform-minded countries are
not penalised more than others.
It is evident that the debt needs to be substantially reduced still further.
But it is right that this reduction should be accompanied by reforms — in
every country — to ensure that the circumstances that originally gave rise
to the debt situation are not forgotten, and there is no repetition of the same
mistakes including: excessive and poorly-targeted public expenditure, local
private development without relevance to the national economy, excessive
competition between lending and exporting countries, and encouraging unnecessary
and even detrimental sales. In any case, it must be acknowledged that conditions
in the mis-developing countries cannot be improved unless there is greater
stability in the social and politicalinstitutional framework.
Increasing overseas development assistance
43. For the second development decade, UNCTAD set the target for aid to the
developing countries at 0.7% of GNP of the industrialised countries. This target
has only been achieved by a few countries(65) but it was recently redefined at
the Copenhagen summit(66). On average, aid to developing countries currently
stands at 0.33%, which is not even one-half of the target!
The fact that some countries achieve the target and others do not clearly
shows that solidarity depends upon the determination of peoples and governments,
and not on any automatic technical mechanisms. A greater share of this aid
should also be set aside to finance projects in which the poor themselves have a
role in the design. Since political leaders of democratic countries depend on
public opinion at home, they must seek to broadly enlist public support to make
it more clearly aware of the issues and stakes involved in the development
assistance budget. "We all share responsibility for the fact that
populations are undernourished. [Therefore], it is necessary to arouse a sense
of responsibility in individuals and generally, especially among those more
blessed with this world's goods(67)."
Government aid raises many ethical problems, both to the donor countries and
the beneficiaries. The moralisation of fresh money circuits is a difficult
problem everywhere, and the ethical shortcomings may benefit interest groups or
lobbies, official or otherwise, in exporting countries. In this way, situations
of power which could be described in terms of "structures of sin"
become firmly "locked in", fostering patronage on all sides.
Powerful mechanisms hold back genuine reform and the development of the
common good. These can have formidable consequences, such as local unrest and
inter-tribal strife in countries that are vulnerable in this respect.
Combating these "structures of sin" is a source of great hope for
the most deprived countries.
Rethinking aid
44. It is the responsibility of the industrialised countries not only to
increase their aid to the developing countries but also to reappraise the way in
which it is distributed. Conditional aid is to be criticised when considered in
terms of the lending or donor country, and when it is tied or linked to
conditionalities that bind the recipient country to: purchasing goods
manufactured in the donor state, using specialised expatriate labour to the
detriment of local labour, complying with structural adjustment programmes, etc.
Conversely, unconditioned aid may be considered to truly produce the best
results, as evidenced in multiple cases. However, this does not mean that
conditional aid should be discarded out of hand, provided that it is designed in
such a way that it fairly distributes the benefits to all the parties concerned
and makes it possible to manage soundly the resources provided.
Emergency aid: a temporary solution
45. Emergency food aid deserves comment, since it is sometimes criticised
for not tackling the root causes of hunger. Some view it as a humanitarian
activity. Still others perceive it as a development lever, while some even
consider it as a trade weapon. It is faulted for: discouraging local farmers;
changing feeding habits; being a tool for bringing political pressure to bear by
creating dependency; arriving too late; fostering a free hand-out mentality;
profiting ultimately only the middlemen; encouraging corruption and not getting
through to the poorest people. In some countries food aid is extended endlessly,
not without reason, and eventually becomes established as a structural fact. It
then becomes a form of permanent balance of payments aid, by reducing the
national deficit. This aid can also be provided at a difficult period of
structural adjustment, as an accompanying measure after consumption subsidies
for basic commodities have been abolished.
Emergency food aid must remain a temporary solution and its purpose is
strictly that of enabling people to survive through a crisis. As a humanitarian
measure, it cannot in principle be challenged. It is only deviations in food aid
that give rise to criticism. Among these criticisms are: it often arrives late
or does not meet the real needs; its distribution is poorly organised or
misdirected by political orethnic factors or patronage; because of theft and
corruption the food does not always reach the poorest people. Other criticisms
note that it is sustainable structural aid, that some consider to be a
development lever, while others view it as trade weapon, a factor which
destabilises production and feeding habits, and causes dependency. In reality,
its effects can be both beneficial and harmful. Apart from the fact that it
enables whole populations to survive, all its positive aspects — such as
the infrastructure work that it makes possible, tripartite transactions, and the
build-up of reserves in the developing countries - should not be forgotten. Even
if it is a weapon that can be used for good or ill, it cannot be ignored.
Coordinated aid
46. Despite the criticisms levelled against it, emergency food aid could be
improved by concerted action between all the partners in the chain: governments,
local authorities, NGOs and Church associations. Aid could be limited in time
and be much better targeted for the people who are really suffering from food
shortages. Local products should be used whenever possible. Above all, emergency
aid must help to free populations from their dependency. In order to do this, in
addition to having adequate infrastructure and local distribution capacities,
aid must always be accompanied by projects to enable the affected populations to
take precautionary measures enabling them to guard against future food
shortages. In this way, emergency or relief aid, under certain conditions, may
be considered as an outstanding act of international solidarity. For "this
kind of assistance does not bring a satisfactory solution as long as conditions
of extreme poverty are allowed to continue and become even more acute,
conditions which lead to increased deaths due to malnutrition and hunger(68)."
Food security: a permanent solution
47. The problem of hunger cannot be resolved without an improvement in local
food security(69). "Food security exists when all people at all times have
access to the food they need for a healthy active life(70)." It is
therefore important to develop programmes to exploit local production, while
having at the same time effective legislation to protect croplands and
guaranteeing access to them by the peasant population. One of the reasons why
this has not yet been done in the developing countries is that so many obstacles
have been raised. It is becoming increasingly more difficult and complicated for
economic and business leaders in the developing countries to even define an
agricultural policy. Of the many reasons for this situation, the main ones are
price and currency fluctuations, which is also one of the effects of the
over-production of agricultural commodities. In order to guarantee food
security, the stability and equity of international trade will also have to be
facilitated(71).
Giving priority to local production
48. It is now acknowledged that in every development process agriculture is
of paramount importance. Whatever the state of international trade or the
economic and political independence, the nutritional status of people in
developing countries would be improved if agricultural systems were established,
giving pride of place to their internal development while remaining open to the
exterior. For this to be done, an economic and social environment must be
created based on a better understanding and a better management of the
following: local agricultural markets, developing rural credit and vocational
training, guaranteeing remunerative local prices, improving the processing and
marketing circuits for local products, genuine consultation between the
developing countries, enabling the small farmers to organise themselves and to
collectively defend their own interests. All of these are tasks that depend on
human skill and will.
Importance of agrarian reform
49. Local food production is often hampered by poor land distribution and
irrational land use. Over half the population in developing countries are
landless and this proportion is continually growing(72). Even though virtually
all the developing countries have agrarian reform policies, few of them have
actually implemented them. Moreover, the agricultural land used by the
multinational food corporations are almost solely used to feed the populations
of the North. The exploitation of these lands is causing the depletion and
exhaustion of the land. It is urgently necessary to embark upon a "bold
reform of the structures and new models of relations between governments and
peoples(73)."
Role of research and education
50. The duties expected of political and financial leaders are of paramount
importance. However, in order to be able to tackle such huge challenges as
hunger, malnutrition and poverty, everyone is called to ask themselves what they
are doing and what more they might still do. This will require:
— the contribution of science — Intellectual élites are
invited to marshall their knowledge and influence in order to try to solve this
problem. Biotechnology research, for example, can help to improve world food
security, health care, and energy supplies, both in the North and the South.
The human sciences can provide a more accurate reading and a more just
interpretation of social organisation in order to reveal more clearly the
discrepancies in existing systems and the evil effects engendered, in order to
help redress them. They can also contribute towards defining and implementing
new ways of establishing solidarity between peoples.
— the sensitisation of individuals and whole peoples — Love of our
neighbour is the duty of parents, educators, political leaders of all levels,
and media specialists. The latter have a major part to play in bringing about
progress in the conscience of humanity.
— authentic development in every country — Maximum importance must
be given to the kind of education which is not merely a matter of handing on the
knowledge needed for communication or for work of personal or public benefit. It
must also lay the foundations for the human being's moral conscience. Any
dichotomy between education and development must be removed. These are such
inter-dependent objectives and are so strictly linked to one another that, both
of them must be pursued together if sustainable results are to be forthcoming.
It is a duty in solidarity to enable everyone to benefit from "an education
... suitable to the particular destiny of all(74)."
International organisations
Catholic International Associations,
Catholic International Organisations (CIOs),
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and their proximity networks
51. Over the past few decades a number of organisations — founded by
volunteers — have come into being to join others in existence, to serve
individuals and populations in difficulty. These international organisations are
often known as Catholic International Associations, Catholic International
Organisations (CIOs), and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). They are held
in high repute thanks to their dynamism. These organizations have shown their
courage in promoting the integral development of people living in poverty and in
responding to emergency situations (famine and drought in this particular
instance). They have experience in drawing attention to desperate situations,
marshalling private and public resources and organising relief in the field.
Most of them have supplemented their battle against hunger across the years by
embarking on a more forward-looking longer-term activity to foster development.
Their most evidentsuccesses include projects for new initiatives implemented
locally and autonomously, and projects designed to strengthen local communities
and institutions.
The Catholic Church has always (even long before NGOs first came into
existence as such) encouraged, inspired and coordinated these efforts and these
resources through countless parish, diocesan, national and international
associations, and through large networks(75).
We wish to pay tribute here to the work of all the International
Organisations, whether they are directly Christian-inspired(76) or whether they
are religious or secular in inspiration.
The twofold mission of international organisations
52. The international organisations have a twofold mission:
awareness-building and action. While the second of these is obvious, the first
is often unknown. Yet the two are inseparable. Prime importance must be given to
sensitising people to the reality and causes of mis-development wherever they
are. Attracting private resources and making more people aware of the issues are
crucial. It is necessary to build up this grassroots base in order to increase
Official Development Assistance and change the "structures of sin".
Partnership in solidarity
53. The International Organisations must work as real partners with the
groups to whose assistance they come. This produces a form of solidarity with a
brotherly and sisterly face, in dialogue, mutual trust, and respectfully
listening to one another.
John Paul II has given a sign of his particular interest in this very
sensitive area of partnership by instituting the "John Paul II for the
Sahel" Foundation to help combat desertification in the countries south of
the Sahara, and the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation to help the
poorest people of Latin America, both of which are managed by the local churches
themselves in their respective regions(77).
IV
THE JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2000
A STAGE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST HUNGER
The Jubilees: rendering to God what is God's
54. In his Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, Pope John
Paul II, in looking forward to the celebration of the 2000th anniversary of the
birth of Christ, recalls the very ancient practice of Jubilees in the Old
Testament, rooted in the concept of the sabbatical year. The sabbatical year was
a time dedicated in a special way to God and it occurred every seventh year
according to the law of Moses. During it, the earth was left fallow, slaves were
set free and all debts were cancelled. The Jubilee Year fell every 50 years, and
during it the customs of the sabbatical year were broadened still further.
Israelite slaves were not only freed but they were also given back their
ancestral land. "You shall hallow the 50th year, and proclaim liberty
throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a Jubilee for you, and
each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his
family" (Lev. 25:10).
The theological basis of this redistribution was the following: "(Israelites)
could never be completely deprived of the land because it belonged to God; nor
could the Israelites remain for ever in a state of slavery since God had "redeemed'
them for himself as his exclusive possession by freeing them from slavery in
Egypt(78)."
Here also we find once more the demand for the universal destination of
goods. The social lien on the right to private property was thereby regularly
expressed in public law in order to make up for the individual failures to
comply with this demand. These failures include: the excessive desire for
wealth, ill-gotten profits and so many other ways of exercising ownership,
possession, and knowledge, along with the denial of the fact that created goods
must always serve everyone equitably.
This legal framework associated with the Jubilee and the Jubilee Year formed
the general blueprint for the Church's social teaching which was fashioned
around the New Testament. Unfortunately, few concrete achievements accompanied
the social ideal attached to the Jubilee. What was needed was a just government,
capable of imposing earlier precepts with the purpose of re-establishing a
degree of social justice. The social teaching of the Church, which has mainly
developed since the 19th century, has partly transformed these precepts into a
exceptional principle, essentially relating to the duty of the State and
designed to restore to everyone their right to enjoy part of the goods of
creation. This principle is regularly recalled and proposed to those who wish to
heed it.
Becoming "providence" for our fellow human beings
55. The practice of the Jubilees refers fundamentally to Divine Providence
and to the history of salvation(79). On the basis of this relationship, hunger
and malnutrition may be considered to be a consequence of human sin, revealed in
the very first verses of the book of Genesis: "The Lord said to Cain: "Where
is Abel your brother?' He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?'
And the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood
is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground which
has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you
till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a
fugitive and a wanderer on the earth'" (Gen. 4:9-12).
The image given here expresses with perfect clarity the relationship between
respect for the dignity of the human person and the fertility of the ecological
receptacle — the earth — that had now been sullied and broken. This
relationship resounds like an echo throughout the whole of human history and
probably formed the theological background of the relations of causality
examined earlier when discussing hunger and malnutrition. Everything happens as
if the unpredictabilities of nature, often so unfavourable to the human being,
are amplified by the consequences of an inordinate thirst for power and profit
and by the "structures of sin" from which they stem. By turning away
from God's creative plan, the human being has only a shortsighted view of self,
one's brothers and sisters and the future, which condemns one to the experience
of the wanderer, which affects the human race: "... what have you done to
your brother?"
The dignity of the human being and the fruitfulness of labour
56. God does not cease wishing to restore creation to humanity and, thanks
to Christ the Redeemer, to help all to till and care for the garden (Cf. Gen.
2:15-17) avoiding spoiling it or excluding anyone from it. In this situation
every effort made to restore the dignity of the human person and the harmony
between the human being and the whole of creation forms, for the Church, part of
the mystery of the Redemption wrought by Christ, symbolically represented by the
tree of life in the original garden (Cf. Gen. 2:9). When the human being
enters freely into communion with this mystery, the person transforms the
wandering into a pilgrimage, visiting places and performing actions of faith,
learning once again to create a just relationship with God, with one's brothers
and sisters and with the whole of creation. The person then knows that this
justification comes about and is nourished by faith and by trust in God, and
that it is often illustrated in the poor in spirit. This person then becomes
once again a full participant in the completion of creation, that had fallen as
a result of original sin: "... for the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the sons of God... (to) obtain the glorious liberty of the
children of God" (Rom. 8:19, 21).
The sense of the human economy is thus revealed in its fullness. Each person
and all of humanity can now cultivate the earth, and live from "the earth
... [where] the body of a new human family grows, foreshadowing in some way the
age which is to come(80)." The dynamic of this economy on the move comes
from our acceptance of this pilgrimage, so that it can "become flesh"
in our own person. Surrendering to it, gradually shedding all our reservations,
brings us back to the Church, this people of pilgrims on the move, and leads her
forward together towards the Kingdom of God. It is therefore the responsibility
of each person, each man and woman baptised in Christ, to reveal this
fruitfulness of which the Church is the custodian, with the mission to restore
fertility to the whole of creation. When faced with the rationales of the "structures
of sin" which weaken the human economy, we are called to be men and women
who allow themselves to be intimately examined by God and who thus take up a
critical attitude regarding the dominant models.
In this perspective, the Church invites all people to develop their
knowledge, skills and experience, each according to the gifts received and
according to their own vocation. These gifts and these vocations, that are
proper to each person, are admirably expressed in the three parables (the
Servant, the Ten Bridesmaids and the Talents) which quite rightly precede the
parable of the Last Judgment (Cf. Mt. 24:45-51 and 25:1-46) mentioned
earlier. The complementarity and diversity of vocations and charisms direct the
human being's response of love, called as one is to become "providence"
for all men and women "a wise and intelligent providence, guiding human
development of the world along the path of harmony with the Creator's will for
the well-being of the human family and the fulfilment of each individual's
transcendent calling(81)."
The economy degraded by a lack of justice
57. The Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente proposes very
specific initiatives to actively pursue social justice(82). It thereby
encourages us to discover other ways of responding to the problem of hunger and
malnutrition which this Jubilee of the Year 2000 might adopt.
The Jubilee is a particularly necessary practice in the field of the
economy, for if left to itself, the economy becomes drained of its life-blood,
because it no longer does justice. Every economic crisis, the extreme effects of
which are food shortages, essentially appears as a crisis of justice which is no
longer being carried out(83). The chosen people of the Old Testament had already
sensed this, and today it must be made a reality. This crisis must be analysed
today within the framework of the free market. In each country, as in
international relations, the free market may be an appropriate instrument for
sharing resources and responding effectively to people's needs(84). Social
justice makes trade permanent. Every human being has the right to accede to it,
at the risk of foundering in an economic neo-Malthusianism based upon a
stereotyped vision of solvency and efficiency.
Having said that, however, it must be noted that justice and the market are
often analysed as two contradictory realities, which relieves the human person
of any responsibility for social justice. The need for equity is then no longer
the responsibility of the individual, who is resigned to succumbing to the
market, but is transferred to the state, and more specifically to the Welfare
State.
In general terms, prevailing moral philosophies are largely responsible for
a shift in thinking in this area. This shift has moved away from the field of
just behaviour to the field of just structures and just procedures, a
theoretical construction that is now out of our reach. Furthermore, this
State-provided welfare, ad intra and ad extra, now seems to be
running out of steam and to be increasingly less able to guarantee any genuine
distributive justice, to the point of threatening the efficiency of the national
economy. Should this not be cause to reflect on the relationship between the
lack of an individual contribution to the establishment of social justice and of
moderation in our own economic behaviour on the one hand, and on the other, the
increasing ineffectiveness of existing re-distribution mechanisms that
eventually diminishes the overall efficiency of our economy?
Fairness and justice in the economy
58. To respond to this opposition between the market and justice, the
Church's social teaching works on the basis of the notion of just price, derived
from Scholasticism. This refers not only to the criterion of commutative
justice, but more broadly to the criterion of social justice, namely, all the
rights and duties of the human person. This realisation of social justice,
thanks to a just price, is based on a twofold conformity: the conformity of the
legal environment of the market to the moral law and the conformity of multiple
individual economic acts which set market prices to the moral law.
It is insufficient to consider personal responsibility as being restricted
solely to civil law, because in many cases this involves "renouncing
personal conscience(85)." Just as the market price is based on a variety
of customary values agreed upon by consumers, so it is our moral conduct, as the
arbiter of agreed customary values, that will cause the market price to converge
or not to converge with the just price. When market agents fail to incorporate
their duty to ensure social justice into their economic decisions, the market
mechanism itself will dissociate the competitive price from the just price.
As we prepare for the Jubilee of the Year 2000, we are all invited to embody
the moral law in our daily economic activities(86). From this stems the concept
that the just or unjust character of the price is to a certain extent "in
our own hands", the hands of the producer and the investor, the hands of
the consumer and of the public policy-makers.
All this does not dispense the State, nor the community of States, from the
duty to exercise protection that is capable, among other things, of imperfectly
making up for the lack of the individual duty to ensure social justice. This
lack is the absence of conformity to the moral law, a duty incumbent on eachone
of us. The common good is a political object which has primacy over the mere
commutative justice in trade.
An appeal for Jubilee proposals
59. God's call, handed on by his Church, is evidently a call to share, all
to active and practical charity. It is a call addressed not only to Christians
but to all men and women of goodwill, and to all those who are capable of
goodwill, namely to the whole of humanity without exception. The Church, out of
concern for the human person in general and of each person in particular, is
therefore at the head of the movements that promote love in solidarity. Being
present and active by the side of all those who are carrying out humanitarian
work to meet the needs, and to assure the most fundamental rights, of their
fellow human beings, the Church regularly recalls that the "solution"
to the social issue demands the effort of all(87).
All men and women of goodwill can perceive the ethical issues that are at
stake and are linked to the future of the world economy: combating hunger and
malnutrition, contributing to food security and the endogenous agricultural
development of the developing countries; developing these countries' export
potential, and preserving the natural resources of planet-wide relevance. The
Church's social teaching views all these as constituent components of the
universal common good which must be identified and fostered by the developed
countries. These components must also stand as the essential objective of
international economic organisations and as the challenge facing the
globalisation of trade. This universal common good, once it has been recognised,
should be the inspiration for strengthening the legal, institutional and
political framework governing international trade and new proposals for the
Jubilee Year. This will demand courage on the part of the leaders of social,
governmental and trade union institutions, since it is today so difficult to set
the interests of each individual within a consistent vision of the common good.
The Church is not responsible for proposing technical solutions in this
regard, but she does wish to seize on this occasion of preparing for the Great
Jubilee to launch a wide-ranging appeal for suggestions and proposals, for the
Jubilee Year, which may hasten the eradication of hunger and malnutrition.
Among these proposals, there are two areas to which particular attention
should be given.
— Food buffer stocks, following the example of Joseph in Egypt (Cf.
Gen. 41:35), to make it possible to provide concrete aid when there is a
temporary crisis threatening populations with disaster. The procedures for
building up and managing these stocks must be designed in such a way as to stave
off any temptation to create a bureaucracy which opens the gates to struggles
for political or economic influence on the one hand, and corruption on the other, as well as to prevent any direct or indirect market
manipulation.
Promotion of family vegetable gardens, particularly in regions where poverty
deprives the people, particularly heads of families and their loved ones, from
gaining access to land-use and from staple foods. This is similar to what Pope
Leo XIII demanded for workers in the 19th century, and for the same reasons: "Men
learn to love the very soil that yields in response to the labour of their
hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of good things for themselves and
those that are dear to them(88)." In most parts of the world, schemes must
be designed and implemented to make available to the poorest people some corner
of the earth, and the necessary knowledge and minimum of tools, which will
enable them to make great progress and break out of their state of grave
distress.
— Lastly, and taking a broader perspective, it is necessary to collect
information and surveys based on experience and observation, in specific
situations, in order to build up a data bank containing practical descriptions
of real-life situations, of "structures of sin" and of "structures
of the common good" from every point of view(89).
V
HUNGER: A CALL TO LOVE
The poor are calling us to love
60. The experience of daily life, in every country in the world calls us, if
we do not close our eyes, to look the hungry in the eye. In this look is the
blood of our brothers and sisters crying out (Cf. Gen. 4:10). We know
that it is God calling out to us through the hungry. The sentence of the
universal Judge condemns without compassion: "Depart from me, you cursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry
and you gave me no food ..." (Mt. 25:41 ff).
These words, which spring from the heart of God-made-man, enable an
understanding the deep significance of meeting the fundamental needs of every
man and woman in the eyes of their Creator. Do not allow the person, who is made
in the image of God, to fall down for that would be letting the Lord fall! In
the groaning of the hungry, it is God who is hungry and who is callings. Being a
disciple of God, who is self revealing, the Christian is urged to heed the cries
of the poor. It is a call to love.
The poverty of God
61. According to the writers of the psalms, those songs of the Old
Testament, "the poor" are identified with "the just", "the
righteous", those who "seek God", "fear God", "trust
in God", those who "are blessed", "his servants" and
who "know his name".
The whole of the light of the "ANAWIM", the poor under the first
Covenant, converge towards the woman who forms the hinge between the two
Testaments, as if reflected in a concave mirror. In Mary, all the devotion to
Yahweh and all the experience which guided the people of Israel shone forth and
took flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Her "Magnificat" is the hymn
of praise which bears witness to Christ: the hymn of the poor whose wealth is
God alone (Cf. Lk. 1:46 ff).
This hymn opens with an explosion of joy, expressing immense gratitude: "my
soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour". But it
is not for riches or power that Mary rejoiced. She saw herself as small, lowly
and humble. This basic idea runs throughout her hymn of praise, in total
contrast to anything dealing with pride, or the thirst for power and wealth.
Those who desire these things are "scattered", "put down from
their thrones" and "sent empty away".
Jesus himself took up this teaching of his mother in his Gospel discourse on
the Beatitudes. They open — and it is no coincidence — with the words,
"Blessed are the poor". His words show what this new person is in
opposition to the "wealth" which he criticizes.
It is to the poor that Jesus addresses his Good News (Cf. Lk. 4:18).
The "allurement of wealth", conversely, prevents people from following
Christ (Cf. Mk. 4:19). We cannot serve two masters, God and mammon (Cf.
Mt. 6:24). Concern for the morrow is the sign of a pagan mentality (Cf.
Mt. 6:32). For Jesus, these are not just fine words. Indeed, he bore
witness to them in his own life: "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his
head" (Mt. 8:20).
The Church is with the poor
62. The Biblical precept must not be distorted nor disguised. It runs
counter to the spirit of the worldand to our natural sensitivity. Our nature and
our culture are repelled by poverty.
People living in poverty and wealthy alike sometimes refer to the poverty of
the Gospel in cynical terms. Christians are then accused of wishing to
perpetuate poverty. But to scorn poverty in this way would be the work of the
devil. The mark of Satan (Cf. Mt. 4) is refusing to do the will of God
by quoting his own Words.
One of the addresses delivered by Pope John Paul II can help us to avoid
this conclusion, which is a trap that would enable us to justify our
selfishness. During his visit to the Lixão de São Pedro shantytown
in Brazil on 19 October 1991, the Holy Father reflected on the first Beatitude
of the Gospel of St. Matthew. He explained the link between poverty and trust in
God, between happiness and total surrender to the Creator. He then continued "But
there also exists another poverty, which is quite different from the poverty
that Christ declared to be blessed, and which affects a multitude of our
brethren, hampering their integral development as persons. Faced with this kind
of poverty, which is the lack and deprivation of the material things they need,
the Church speaks out ... This is why the Church knows that all social changes
must necessarily come about through a conversion of hearts, and she prays for
this. That is the first and the main mission of the Church(90)."
As we have already said, the call of God handed on through the Church is
evidently an appeal to share, to active and practical charity, addressed not
only to Christians but to everyone. As in the past, and more than ever today,
the Church is present to all those who are performing humanitarian work to serve
other human beings, working for their needs and their most basic rights.
The Church's contribution to the development of each human being and whole
peoples is not restricted to combating poverty and under-development. There also
exists a form of poverty caused by the conviction that the pursuit of technical
and economic progress is enough to make each person more worthy to be called a
human being. But soul-less development cannot suffice for the human being, and
an excess of wealth and affluence is as harmful to the person as an excess of
poverty. It is in the "development model" created by the northern
hemisphere and spreading throughout the southern hemisphere, that the sense of
religion and the human values stand the risk of being overwhelmed by a mentality
of consumption, sought-after for its own sake.
Poor and rich alike are called to freedom
63. God does not want people — namely, all men and women — to be
poor, because Our Creator cries out to all through each one of those living in
poverty. God tells us quite simply that the poor, like the rich who are blinded
by their wealth, are mutilated beings; the poor are mutilated by circumstances
which lie far from their control, while the rich are mutilated by their handfuls
and with their collusion. Both are thereby prevented from finding that interior
freedom to which God unceasingly calls all humanity.
By being "filled with good things", the poor are not given some
selfish revenge against their ill fate, but are placed in a situation that
ensures that their most fundamental capacities are not diminished. The rich who
are "sent empty away" are not being punished for being rich, but they
are relieved of the burden and the blindness caused by being too exclusively
attached to goods of all kinds. The hymn of the Magnificat is not a
condemnation, but a call to freedom and to love.
In this two-fold healing process, the poor are called to heal their hearts
wounded by injustice which can lead them to hate themselves and others. The rich
are called to cast off their shoddy burden. Instead they cover their ears, close
their eyes and stifle their hearts, submerged under their worthless riches of
money, power, image and pleasures of every kind, all which give them a narrow
view of themselves and of others, as well as increase their appetites as they
increase their goods.
Necessary reform of the human heart
64. World hunger makes us identify the weaknesses of the human being at
every level. The rationale of sin shows how sin — that evil lurking in the
heart of every person — lies at the root of the miseries in society as a
result of what might be called the "structures of sin". For the Church, this is culpable
egoism, the pursuit of wealth, power and glory
regardless of the cost, challenging the very value of progress as such. "For
when the order of values is jumbled and bad is mixed with the good, individuals
and groups pay heed solely to their own interests, and not to those of others.
Thus it happens that the world ceases to be a place of true brotherhood and
sisterhood. In our own day, the magnified power of humanity threatens to destroy
the race itself....(91)" linked to a notion of progress' with philosophical
connotations deriving from the Enlightenment... A naïve mechanistic
optimism has been replaced by a well founded anxiety for the fate of humanity.... There is a better understanding today that the mere accumulation of
goods and services, even for the benefit of the majority, is not enough for the
realization of human happiness.": AAS 80 (1988), pp. 547-550.]
Conversely, the love which comes to dwell in the human heart enables men and
women to overcome their limitations and to act in the world by creating "structures
of the common good". Thereby encouraging people around them to move towards
a "civilisation of love(92)"and to attract others.
Thus the human being is called to reform his or her actions. This issue is
of vital importance to the world. The person is lead to this reformation of the
heart by a movement of self toward the unification of the self and of the human
community in love. This reform of the human being, the whole person, is radical
in its depth and in what it entails, for the very essence of love is radical.
Love does not suffer from division, it encompasses all the prompting of the
person — acts and prayer, material goods and spiritual riches.
The conversion of the heart of everyone, of each and every human being, is
God's proposal which can profoundly change the face of the earth, wiping away
the hideous marks of hunger which disfigure part of its face. "Repent and
believe in the Gospel" (Mk. 1:15) is the imperative which
accompanies the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and which brings about its
coming. The Church knows that this deepseated and intimate change in people will
encourage, in daily life, a look beyond immediate interests, to change, little
by little, the way of thinking, working and living, in order to learn to love in
daily life, fully exercising faculties in the world as it is.
Whatever little we do, God will watch over us.
"Place not your trust in idols!"
65. Here is the promise which Our Lord makes us: "You shall be clean
from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new
heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take
out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will
put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to
observe my ordinances" (Ezek. 36:25-27).
Let us not be mislead by this magnificent biblical language. It is not an
appeal to fine sentiments, to bring about a mere material sharing, however
worthwhile and effective that might be. It is the most farreaching proposal that
could ever be put to us. The proposal of God, who comes to offer each one of us
liberation from our idols and to teach us to love. This commits our whole being,
reunified in this way. Then we can overcome our fears and our selfishness in
order to be attentive to our brothers and sisters and to serve them.
Our idols are all near us. They are our longings as individuals and as
communities, whether we are rich or poor, for material goods, power, reputation
and pleasure, viewed as ends in themselves. By serving these idols, the human
being is enslaved and the planet impoverished (Cf. § No. 25). The profound
injustice suffered, by those who cannot meet the bare necessities of life, is
precisely the fact that they are forced, by necessity, to seek material goods
above all else.
The heart of the poor Lazarus was freer than the heart of the evil rich man,
and through the voice of Abraham, God not only asks the unrighteous rich man to
share his feast with Lazarus, but demands a change of heart and acceptance of
the law of love, in order that he become a brother to Lazarus (Cf. Lk. 16:19
ff).
It is by freeing us from our idols that God will enable us to set about
transforming the world, notonly by increasing riches of all kinds, but above all
by directing the work of humanity towards the service of all. The world can then
rediscover its original beauty which is not only the beauty of nature on the day
of Creation, but the beauty of the garden that was perfectly tended and tilled
and rendered fertile by the human being, at the service of one's brothers and
sisters, in the loving presence of God and out of love for God.
"Fight hunger by changing your lifestyle" is the motto which has
emerged in Church circles and which shows the people in the affluent country how
to become the brothers and sisters of those living in poverty(93).
Listening to the poor
66. Wherever in the world God has placed them, Christians must respond to
the call of those who are hungry by personally questioning their own lives. The
call of the hungry urges one to question the meaning and the value of daily
actions, to seek out the immediate and sometimes more remote consequences of
professional and voluntary work, handicrafts and domestic work. Further, one
must gauge the magnitude, which is much more concrete and wide-ranging than
could be imagined, of the consequences of all one does, even the most ordinary
things, and hence appraise real responsibility. Christians must question the way
time is managed, which in the modern world often suffers by default or by excess
because of unemployment, which causes such destruction. The eyes of the spirits
and hearts of Christians will be opened if they know how to accept this
invitation from God, which is extended to all men and women, to go out as a
matter of routine, discreetly and humbly to listen to and serve anyone in need.
This is a very particular appeal to all known in current parlance as leaders or
officials.
St.Paul states unequivocally that: "Jesus Christ ... though rich ...
for your sake he became poor" (2 Cor. 8:16). Christ wished to make
us rich through his poverty and through the love we must always show to those
living in poverty.
Listening to God
67. Listening to God, in the presence of the poor, will open up the human
heart and lead it to seek an ever-new personal encounter with God. This
encounter, which God is seeking, in a ceaseless search for all humanity and the
whole human being, will continue along the daily path which gradually transforms
the lives of those who agree to "open the door" to God who humbly
knocks (Cf. Rev. 3:20).
Listening to God demands time with and for God. It is personal prayer. This
alone enables the human being to have a change of heart and hence of deeds. The
time taken up by God is not taken away from the poor. A strong and balanced
spiritual life has never removed anyone from the service of their brothers and
sisters. If St. Vincent de Paul (, 1660) — who was so well known for his
commitment to the poorest of the poor — was able to say: "Leave off
your prayer if your brother asks you for a cup of tea", let us not forget
that he used to pray for seven hours a day, and it was on this that he built up
everything he did.
Changing our lives ...
68. Those who listen to their brothers and sisters and open up to God's
presence and action will begin, little by little, to question their own habits
of life. The race for affluence — which more and more people are joining
in, often in a world of increasing poverty — will gradually give way to a
greater simplicity of life which is already a distant memory in so many
countries. This becomes possible once again, and even desirable, as soon as
concern for appearances is no longer a consumer's choice.
Lastly, those who thus agree to change their views in order to adopt the
view that God has shown usin the words of Christ, and to reflect on the
consequences of our actions, whether apparently important or insignificant, will
be enabled to place themselves at the service of the common good and of the
integral advancement of all humanity and each and every human being.
... to change life
69. Gradually freed of fears and purely material ambitions and enlightened
as to the possible consequences of their own actions, wherever they may be,
those welcoming the presence of God in every aspect of life will become artisans
of the civilisation of love. Working discreetly and in depth, their work will
take on the character of a mission in which their talents must be exercised and
developed. A mission where they are called to contribute towards reforming
structures and institutions. This exemplary behaviour will then encourage their
neighbours to do likewise and to be essentially devoted to serving the dignity
of all men and women and their common good.
The circumstances of life are such that some consider this attitude toward
work to be impossible. But experience has shown that even in situations of
apparent stalemate, people always have a tiny margin to manoeuvre, and their
choices have a real significance for those working near them and for the common
good. To a certain extent one might say that every man and woman is responsible
for everyone else(94). This is one of the aspects of God's call to love, which
never ceases to resound. It is the responsibility of everyone, under what are
often difficult circumstances and may even cause suffering to the point of
martyrdom, to draw on the strength of God who promises us help if we place him
at the very centre of our lives, including our active lives.
"Take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I
am with you" (Hag. 2:4-5). The Christian then becomes a combatant
against the "structures of sin" and even their agent of destruction.
This will ensure that anything that hampers social and economic development will
be less widespread. In regions where Christians lead men and women of goodwill
with courage and determination, poverty can be halted in its tracks, consumption
habits can be changed, reforms implemented, solidarity can flourish and hunger
recede.
Supporting initiatives
70. These Christians are led, first and foremost, by Religious and ordained
pastors, who are called to give their lives to God and to their fellow men and
women.
Throughout the history of the Church, since the time of the deacons in the
Acts of the Apostles (Cf. Acts 6:1 ff) until today, there have been
extraordinary men and women(95), Religious Orders and Missionary Orders,
associations of the Christian laity and Church institutions and initiatives that
have set out to assist those living in poverty and the hungry. They have fought
against suffering and misery in all its forms, in obedience to Christ.
The Church is thankful to all those who are presently performing these
services by undertaking specific activities for the good of their neighbour, in
dioceses, parishes, missionary organisations, charity organisations and other
NGOs. They are handing on the love of God and demonstrating the authenticity of
the Gospel.
The Catholic Church is present in every continent. She has almost 2,700
dioceses or circumscriptions with widely differing features(96), many of which
have long been occupied with combating hunger and poverty. Dioceses and parishes
are the special places for discerning what Christians are able to achieve. In
these situations they encourage the organisation of grassroots groups, local
groups and whole communities. Welcoming communities, composed with a strong
human dimension, can restore people's confidence, help organise better living,
and draw people out of resignation and subjugation. The Gospel once again
becomes a hope for the those living in poverty, in a crucible in which the
strength of Christand the strength of the disinherited joint forces.
Each one is called to take part in this work. The call to love, which God
sends out through the presence of our fellow humans who are suffering from
hunger, must become a reality for each of us, whatever our state of life, place
in the world and our most immediate surrounding. The wonderful variety of
humanity, in the diversity of cultures, leads to an array of different
commitments and missions.
Every Christian must, therefore, encourage local initiatives of all kinds.
The Catholic Church knows that she can share this commitment with the other
Christian Churches and religious communities, and with all men and women of
goodwill. Humanitarian work is an important sphere of action for Christians.
But, they must then make a particular contribution to ensuring that the purposes
pursued by their association and in their own work are for the integral service
of humanity, without excluding the spiritual dimension. In this way, they will
be a bulwark against all those who might seek to deflect the dynamism of these
associations to serve political ends inspired by materialism and by ideologies
which ultimately always destroy the human being.
Every Christian is on a mission in all their activities
71. Christians are at the service of their brothers and sisters in every
aspect of their work and their lives. Love put into practice appeals to all
Christians in their daily work, and in their personal initiatives. The
commitment of Christians, like their humanitarian and charitable work, stems
from the same call to mission.
In their paid work and in their unpaid voluntary work, or working at home,
which is often heavy, men and women are called to live the same mission, to
manifest the Good News and serve it through their daily sufferings and joys and
in every situation. The quality of their work, taking part in just reforms,
behaving modestly, showing that concern for others which is always present
regardless of personal and lawful institutional objectives — all this is
the daily lot of men and women seeking an opportunity, in every aspect of their
lives, to allow God to draw close to them and to make the world grow large in
divine love. They will then be increasingly better able to combat confusion and
injustice, and offer up their sufferings and their joys to Christ the Saviour
who gives them his spirit in their daily lives.
Christians will seek to link their work, whatever it is, to the One who
speaks directly to our hearts, through the mouths of all the poor. Christians
who are leaders of all men and women of goodwill, with whom they share
fundamental human values, must ensure that their personal work and that of their
fellow Christians is inspired by the Word of God and anchored in the Divine
Life, in union with the Church and her pastors. The community in action must be
a community working with the Lord, who will ensure that this work is planned and
implemented in the Holy Spirit, and thereby ensure that it preserves its quality
as a mission of divine essence in which the Servant of Man is sought personally
as the source, the strength and the end of the work itself.
Christians will find support at all times in the prayer of our Blessed Lady,
praying and acting in one and the same movement of unreserved service to God and
to humanity. The Mother of God will intercede with the Holy Spirit to flood the
minds and hearts of all Christians, thereby making them responsible and
trusting, cooperating freely in an undertaking that will bear witness by itself
to the Love of God, and which will have the weight of eternity.
Vatican City, Palazzo San Calisto, 4 October 1996, Feast of St. Francis
of Assisi.
Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes
President
Pontifical
Council "Cor Unum"
Msgr. Ivan Marin
Secretary
Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"
(1) 5 When drafting this document, particular care has been taken to draw on
a wide range of recent studies and research. However, the fact that they are
cited in this document does not imply unreserved and full approval by the Holy
See.
(2) Cf. United Nations (UN), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted
and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 217 A (III)
on 10 December 1948, art 25 § 1.
(3) United Nations, Declaration on Social Progress and Development,
proclaimed by the General Assembly of the UN in Resolution 2542 (XXIV) on 11
December 1969, part II, art. 10b.
(4) United Nations, World Food Conference, Rome, 16 November 1974,
No. 1.
(5) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World
Health Organisation (WHO), Final Report of the International Conference on
Nutrition, World Declaration on Nutrition, Rome, 1992, No. 1.
(6) Cf. ibid., No. 1. Cf. also FAO, Dimensions of Need: An Atlas
of Food and Agriculture, Rome, 1995, p. 16: "In the world as a whole,
an average of about 2700 calories of food is available per person per day,
enough to meet everyone's energy requirements. But food in neither produced nor
distributed equally. Some countries produce more food than others, while
distribution systems and family incomes determine access to food".
(7) Cf. FAO, World Agriculture: Towards 2010, Rome, 1993, p. 1.
(8) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium
et spes (1965), No. 40: "...the Church...goes forward together with
humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the world does. She serves
as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in
Christ and transformed into God's family. That the earthly and the heavenly city
penetrate each other is a fact accessible to faith alone...".
(9) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et
spes (1965), No. 69.
(10) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987),
No. 41: AAS 80 (1988), p. 570.
(11) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987):
AAS 80 (1988), p. 558.
Cf. also Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum progressio (1967), No.
47: AAS 59 (1967), p. 280.
(12) Cf. FAO, Dimensions of Need: An Atlas of Food and Agriculture,
Rome, 1995, p. 16. Cf. also Footnote No. 4.
(13) Cf. Berg, A., Malnutrition: What can be done? Lesson from World
Bank Experience, The John Hopkins University Press for the World Bank,
Baltimore, Maryland, 1987.
(14) According to FAO and WHO surveys, the minimum daily calorie intake
should be about 2,100, while daily food availability should be 1.55 times the
basic metabolism rate. Below these levels, a person may be considered to be
suffering from chronic under-nutrition (Cf. FAO and WHO, International
Conference on Nutrition. Nutrition and Development: A Global Assessment, Rome,
1992). There are still about 800 million people in the world who are under-fed.
An adult requires an average daily intake of about 2,500 calories. However,
people living in industrial countries have about 800 calories a day in excess of
their requirements, while the developing countries have to be content with only
two-thirds of this ration (Cf. Le Sud dans votre assiette. L'interdépendance
alimentaire mondiale, CRDI, Ottawa, 1992, p. 26).
(15) Cf. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
Preparatory document for the Second UNIATE Nations Conference on the Less
Developed Countries, Paris, 1990.
(16) FAO and WHO, Final Report of the International Nutrition
Conference, World Declaration on Nutrition, Rome, 1992, No. 2.
(17) Cf. World Bank, Poverty and Hunger, 1986. This document
describes the degrees of food insecurity (transitory or chronic), as well as the
underlying economic causes of such situations and means of remedying them in the
medium and longer term. It is a useful distinction to draw, but its weakness is
that it does not immediately reflect correlations between different causes,
which could more clearly bring out their comparative importance, for some causes
are themselves the effects of more deep-seated causes. Sustainability originally
meant development that was compatible with respect for the physical environment.
Today the concept also implies the permanency of development.
(18) Cf. World Bank, Poverty and Hunger, 1986.
(19) The term "mis-developing countries", which covers a wider
sphere than the economy alone, is applied to countries whose economic and social
development exacts an excessively high toll in terms of human suffering and
financial resources, and the destruction of the expertise, well-tried practices
and assets acquired throughout the centuries.
(20) As a general result of better policies and better implementation,
Asia's performance has been more effectiveoverall even though the quality of
interpersonal relations cannot be said to have improved, or corruption reduced.
(21) Cutbacks have had to be made in education in some countries. It should
be remembered that in many of the countries struggling for development, one of
the recurrent problems that international institutions must address in their
dialogue with the leadership, is the leaders' tendency to favour higher
education at the expense of primary education.
(22) Cf. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The State of World
Population 1993, New York, 1993. Cf. also United Nations, World
Population Prospects: the 1992 Revision, New York, 1993. Cf. also UNFPA,
The State of World Population 1994, Choices and Responsibilities.
(23) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Human
Development Report 1990, Oxford University Press, New York, 1990. Cf. ibid.
p. 94. In the developing countries, where the majority of people suffering
from hunger live, the rural population has more than doubled and the urban
population has tripled or even quadrupled in the space of thirty years (between
1950 and 1980).
(24) Cf. Böckle, F., et al., Armut und Bevolkerungs-entwicklung in
der Dritten Welt, Herausgegeben von der Wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsgruppe für
weltkirchliche Aufgaben der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Bonn, 1991. Cf. also
Poverty and Demographic Growth in the Third World, published by the
Scientific Working Party for Universal Church Issues of the German Bishops'
Conference, Bonn, 1991.
(25) Cf. Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Population and Resources.
Report, Vatican City, 1993. (The statistics given in this report have since
changed).
(26) Cf. Pontifical Council for the Family, Ethical and Pastoral
Dimensions of Population Trends, Vatican City, 1994. Cf. Le contrôle
des naissances dans les pays du Sud: promotion des droits des femmes ou des intérêts
du Nord, "Inter-Mondes", vol. 7, October 1991, No. 1, p. 7: In
many areas of the world, research has shown, that in addition to birth control
there are three other factors which also contribute to reducing world population
growth. One is economic and social development, another is improving the living
conditions of women and, paradoxically, reducing infant mortality. Cf. also
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), The Situation of Children in the
World, Geneva, 1991.
(27) John Paul II, Address to the delegates attending the Week of
Study on "Population and Resources" organised by the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences, 22 November 1991, Nos. 4 and 6: "The Church is aware
of the complexity of the problem... The urgency of the situation must not lead
into error in proposing ways of intervening. To apply methods which are not in
accord with the true nature of man actually ends up by causing tragic harm...
and can risk placing the heaviest burden on the poorest and weakest sectors of
society, thus adding injustice to injustice".: AAS 84 (1992), pp.
1120-1122. Cf. also Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Address to the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, 3-14
June 1992, L'Osservatore Romano, 15-16 June 1992.
(28) Cf. FAO and WHO, Final Report of the International Conference on
Nutrition, World Declaration on Nutrition, Rome, 1992, No. 15.
(29) Cf. FAO, World Agriculture: Towards 2010, Rome, 1993, No. 2 §
13.
(30) UNDP, World Human Development Report 1990, Oxford University
Press, New York, 1990, p. 18.
(31) FAO and WHO, Final Report of the International Conference on
Nutrition, World Declaration on Nutrition, Rome, 1992, No. 1.
(32) Ibid.
(33) Argentina is one of the leading wheat and beef exporting countries. It
is, therefore, not a mis-developing country. It is an industrialised country
whose long-term economic performance used to be disappointing for reasons that
were mainly to do with weaknesses in its political system. This situation has
improved considerably in recent years, and the economic effects are already
evident.
(34) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Geoffrey Chapman, 1994, §
1906 in which the definition of "common good", based on Gaudium et
spes (1965), No. 26 § 1,: "the sum total of social conditions
which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their
fulfilment more fully and more easily".
(35) John Paul II, Address at the Headquarters of West African
Economic Community (CEAO), Ouagadougou, 29 January 1990: AAS 82 (1990),
p. 818.
(36) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (1991), No.
31: AAS 83 (1991), p. 831.
(37) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et
paenitentia (1984), No. 16: AAS 77 (1985), pp. 213-217 (referring to
social sin producing social evils), the Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo rei
socialis (1987), Nos. 36-37: AAS 80 (1988), pp. 561-564, and the
Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (1991), No. 38: AAS 83
(1991), p. 841. These documents also use expressions such as "situations of
sin" or "social sins" but always giving the cause of these sins
as egotism, the search for profit or the lust for power.
(38) The manufacture of chemical weapons, which have no positive fall-out
and are only used to attack or for self-defence, is one example. To appreciate
the scale of the problem, 500,000 tons of deadly chemical products, sufficient
to wipe out 60 billion men and women, are still stockpiled in the former Soviet
Union. The cost of production for these weapons was about US$$200 billion, and
their cost to destroy will be the same. These are real resources, and are
therefore a net loss to the planet. This perverse adventure lowersliving
standards (mainly, but not solely, in the former USSR) and can even cause hunger
in families that would otherwise never have experienced it.
(39) Cf. Paul VI, 1975 Christmas Homily for the end of the Holy
Year: AAS 68 (1976), p. 145. This concept was used for the first time by
Pope Paul VI.
(40) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (1991), No.
28: AAS 83 (1991), p. 828.
(41) Cf. Salmen, L., Listen to the People, Participant-Observer
Evaluation of Development Projects, The World Bank and Oxford University
Press, 1987. In this connection, one might recall the participating observer
method used by one World Bank consultant. Driven on by a deep love for humanity,
he did not hesitate to spend periods of between three and six months living in
the shanty-towns in South America (in Quito and La Paz in particular) to lead
the same life as the local people. This enabled him to routinely advise
architects working on urban renewal to ensure that the new constructions were
not systematically turned into slums by the new occupiers who had previously
lived in hovels. This is what is meant by giving preference to listening to the
poor, who in this case are also customers, and it is also sound common sense.
But it demands heroism. This method subsequently spread in Thailand, drawing on
the world-wide authority of the World Bank to convince the officials in Bangkok
to go and spend time living with their own deprived fellow citizens in order to
ensure the success of their urban resettlement programmes.
Also noteworthy is the extraordinary work of an English Protestant Minister,
Stephen Carr, who spent 20 years living in two African villages, using
traditional resources and techniques alone. He acquired a powerful influence in
these two places, and on an unscheduled visit to Washington in 198586 he was
interviewed by the World Bank. What he had to tell them enlightened the World
Bank specialists who had come up against one failure after another in the Bank's
agricultural projects in Africa. There is a symbiosis between the peasant and
his land. The land of Africa is beautiful and rich, but it is also very fragile.
New farming practices by the peasants brought about by the contemporary economy
and the loss of ancestral beliefs has led to the destruction of the land.
Catholic missionaries—and perhaps others too—have realised this. The
old missions respected the talents and above all the traditional experience of
the local people. This has now been rediscovered by a number of NGOs, including
the FIDESCO which is based in France and several other European countries.
(42) Cf. the work of Fr. Joseph Wrejinsky and ATD Fourth World.
(43) Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in terris (1963),
Chapter III: AAS 55 (1963), pp. 279-291.
(44) John Paul II, Address to the FAO Conference to celebrate the
50th Anniversary of the Organisation, 23 October 1995, No. 2; L'Osservatore
Romano, 23-24 October 1995.
(45) World Bamk, World Development Report 1990, Washington, 1990, p.
19.
(46) Cf. Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace", The
International Arms Trade: An Ethical Reflection, Vatican City, 1994.
(47) Cf. FAO, Sustainable Development and the Environment, FAO Policies
and Actions, Rome, 1992.
(48) Cf. John Paul II, Address to the 25th Session of the FAO
Conference, 16 November 1989, No. 8: AAS 82 (1990), pp. 672-673.
(49) Cf. The Papal Writs (Chirographs) establishing the two
Pontifical Foundations, "John Paul II for the Sahel" on 22 February
1984, and the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation on 13 February 1992.
Both foundations have their headquarters at the Pontifical Council "Cor
Unum", Vatican City State. The headquarters of the Board of Directors of
the "John Paul II for the Sahel" Foundation is in Ouagadougou (Burkina
Faso) and the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation has its headquarters
in Santafé de Bogotá (Colombia).
(50) Cf. John Paul II, Address to the United Nations General
Assembly for the celebration of its 50th Anniversary, 5 October 1995, Nos. 12
and 13; L'Osservatore Romano, 6 October 1995.
(51) To mention some by name: Economia di ComunioneOpera di Maria, the
Focolare Movement (Grottaferrata), AVSICommunion and Liberation (Milan),
FidescoEmmanuel Community (Paris), "Famille en Mission"Neocatechumenal
Path (Rome), and "Kolping International" (Cologne).
(52) UNDP, op. cit., p. 31: Cf. also Footnote No. 29.
(53) Cf. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), The
Role of Rural Credit Projects in Reaching the Poor, Rome-Oxford, 1985.
(54) Cf. John Paul II, Letter to Women, 29 June 1995, No. 4: AAS
87 (1995), pp. 805-806.
(55) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Mulieris dignitatem
(1988), Nos. 6-7: AAS 80 (1988), pp. 1662-1667. Cf. also the
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici (1988), No. 50:
AAS 81 (1989), pp. 489-492.
(56) The magnitude of corruption can be gauged from the amount of "laundered"
money as estimated by the authorities responsible for preventing fraud.
(57) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo rei socialis
(1987), No. 44: AAS 80 (1988), pp. 576-577.
(58) John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in terris (1963), Chapter
III: AAS 55 (1963), p. 290.
(59) Cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum novarum (15 May 1891):
Leonis XIII P.M. Acta, XI, Romae, 1892, pp. 97-144.
(60) Cf. FAO, The Report of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and
Rural Development: Declaration of Principles and Programme of Action and The
Peasants' Charter, Rome, 1979.
(61) Cf. FAO, Final Report of the 23rd Session of the FAO Conference,
No. C85REO, Rome, 9-28 November 1985, p. 46.
(62) Cf. Footnote No. 4.
(63) Cf. World Bank, World Development Report 1990, Introduction, Washington,
1990.
(64) John Paul II, Address for the 50th Anniversary of FAO, No. 4;
L'Osservatore Romano, 23-24 October, 1995.
(65) Cf. UNDP, World Human Development Report 1992. Cf. also UNITED
NATIONS, Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, No. 33.13: "Developed
countries reaffirm their commitments to reach the accepted United Nations target
of 0.7 per cent of GNP for ODA and, to the extent that they have not yet
achieved that target, agree to augment their aid programmes in order to reach
that target as soon as possible...Some countries who have already reached the
target are to be commended and encouraged to continue to contribute to the
common effort to make available the substantial additional resources that have
to be mobilised".
(66) Cf. Report of the World Summit for Social Development,
Copenhagen, 6-12 March 1995, Declaration and Programme of Action, No.
88b.
(67) John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et magistra (1961), Chapter
III: AAS 53 (1961), p. 440.
(68) John Paul II, Address to FAO on its 50th Anniversary, No. 3;
L'Osservatore Romano, 23-24 October, 1995.
(69) Cf. UNDP, op. cit., pp. 164-165: Cf. Footnote No. 64.
(70) FAO, Dimensions of Needs: p. 35: Cf. Footnote No. 11, Food
security depends generally on four elements: food availability; access
to sufficient food; stability of supplies; cultural acceptance
of the food or certain combinations of foods.
(71) Cf. also the World Food Security Compact, 1985, mentioned
earlier in text in No. 40.
(72) Cf. FAO, Landlessness: a Growing Problem, "Economic and
Social Development Series", Rome, 1984, No. 28.
(73) John Paul II, Message for World Peace Day of January 1, 1990, "Peace
with God the Creator, Peace with All Creation", (1990), No.11: AAS
82 (1990), p. 153.
(74) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Gravissimum
educationis, No. 1, referring to PIUS XI, Encyclical Letter Divini
illius magistri (1929), No. 1: AAS 22 (1930), p. 50 ff.
(75) Cf. also Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", Catholic Aid
Directory, 4th Edition, Vatican City, 1988 (the 5th Edition is being
prepared). Let us take, by way of example, the member organisations of "Cor
Unum": the International Association of St Vincent de Paul, Caritas
Internationalis, the International Union of Superiors General, the Union of
Superiors General, Australian Catholic Relief, Caritas Italiana, Caritas
Lebanon, Catholic Relief Services (United States Catholic Conference), Deutscher
Caritasverband, Manos Unidas, Organisation Catholique Canadienne pour le Développement
et la Paix, Secours Catholique, Kirche in Not, the Society of St Vincent de
Paul, the Secretariat of Caritas in French-speaking Africa, Caritas Aotearoa
(New Zealand), Caritas Bolivia, Caritas Spain, Caritas Mozambique, Misereor, Österreichische
Caritaszentrale, the Knights of Malta.
(76) Unit IV of the World Council of Churches in Geneva is of great
importance here, as is the worldwide work of the Red Cross.
(77) Cf. Footnote No. 48.
(78) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente
(1994), No. 12: AAS 87 (1995), p. 13.
(79) Cf. ibid. No. 13: AAS 87 (1995), pp. 13-14.
(80) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et
spes (1965), No. 39.
(81) John Paul II, Meditation at the Prayer Vigil at Cherry Creek
State Park as part of the celebrations of the 8th World Youth Day, 14 August
1993: AAS 86 (1994), p. 416.
(82) John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente
(1994), No. 51: "...proposing the Jubilee as an appropriate time to give
thought, among other things, to reducing substantially, if not cancelling
outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many
nations": AAS 87 (1995), p. 36.
(83) Cf. Hude, H., Éthique et Politique, Chapter XIII "La
justice sur le marché", Ed. Universitaires, Paris, 1992.
(84) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (1991),
No. 34: AAS 83 (1991), pp. 835-836.
(85) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae (1995), No.
69: AAS 87 (1995), p. 481.
(86) The Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (1991) by Pope John Paul
II gives a number of indications in this connection in para. No. 36: "In
singling out new needs and new means to meet them, one must be guided by a
comprehensive picture of man which respects all the dimensions of his being and
which subordinates his material and instinctive dimensions to his interior and
spiritual ones. If, on the contrary, a direct appeal is made to human
instincts-while ignoring in various ways the reality of the person as
intelligent and free-then consumer attitudes and lifestyles can be created which
are objectively improper and often damaging to the person's physical and
spiritual health. Of itself, an economic system does not possess criteria for
correctly distinguishing new and higher forms of satisfying human needs from
artificial new needs which hinder the formation of a mature personality. Thus a
great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed, including the
education of consumers in the responsible use of their power of choice, the
formation of a strong sense of responsibility among producers and among people
in the mass media in particular, as well as the necessary intervention by public
authorities... I am referring to the fact that even the decision to invest in
one place rather than another, in one productive sector rather than another, is
always a moral and cultural choice.": AAS 83 (1991), pp. 838-840.
(87) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (1991), No.
60: AAS 83 (1991), pp. 865-866.
(88) Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum novarum (1891), No. 35.
(89) "Cor Unum" will be asking specific questions in this
connection.
(90) John Paul II, 2nd visit to Brazil, 12-21 October 1991, Address at
the Lixão de São Pedro shanty-town, Insegnamenti di Giovanni
Paolo II, XIV2 (1991), p. 941.
(91) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et
spes (1965), No. 37. Cf. also John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo
rei socialis (1987), Nos. 27-28: "Such an idea $[of development$
(92) Cf. Footnote No. 38.
(93) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio (1990), No.
59: AAS 83 (1991), pp. 307-308.
(94) This conviction is not only common amongst Christians. It lies at the
basis of a movement that was recently instituted in the United States, "Communitarianism".
The sociologist, A. Etzioni, has set out the tenets of the movement which works
for the promotion of the common good of all men and women in his study entitled
The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities and the Communitarian
Agenda, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1993.
(95) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo rei socialis
(1987), No. 40: AAS 80 (1988), p. 569.
(96) Cf. Secretaria Status Rationarium Generale Ecclesiae, Annuarium
statisticum Ecclesiae, Typis Vaticanis, 1994, p. 41.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
I
THE REALITY OF HUNGER
The challenge of hunger
A scandal that has lasted too long: hunger destroys life
Malnutrition jeopardises the present and future of a population
Chief victims: the most vulnerable populations
Hunger generates hunger
Causes that may be remedied
A) Economic causes
Root causes
Debt of the mis-developing countries
Structural adjustment programmes
B) Socio-cultural causes
The social situation
Demography
The implications
C) Political causes
The influence of politics
Concentration of resources
Economic and social de-structuring
D) The Earth can feed all its inhabitants
The great progress made by humanity
Agri-food markets
Modern agriculture
II
ETHICAL CHALLENGES TO BE TAKEN UP BY ALL
Ethical dimension of the problem
Love of our neighbour in order to achieve development
Social justice and the universal destination of goods
Costly abuse of the common good: the "structures of sin"
Giving preference to listening to the poor and serving them: sharing
An integrated society
Peace, a balance of rights
Disarmament, an urgent need to be met
Respect for the environment
Ecology and equitable development
Taking up the challenge together
Acknowledging the contribution of the poor to democracy
Community initiatives
Access to credit
Paramount role of women
Integrity and a social sense
III
TOWARDS AN ECONOMY BASED ON GREATER SOLIDARITY
To better serve humanity and all human beings
Channelling the work of all to the same end
Political will of industrial countries
Establishing fair terms of trade
Overcoming the debt problem
Increasing Overseas Development AssistanceRethinking aid
Emergency aid: a temporary solution
Coordinated aid
Food security: a permanent solution
Giving priority to local production
Importance of agrarian reform
Role of research and education
International organisations: Catholic International Associations, Catholic
International Organizations (CIO's), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO's) and
their proximity networks
The twofold mission of international organisations
Partnership in solidarity
IV
THE JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2000
A STAGE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST HUNGER
The Jubilees: rendering to God what is God's
Becoming "providence" for our fellow human beings
The dignity of the human being and the fruitfulness of labour
The economy degraded by a lack of justice
Fairness and justice in the economy
An appeal for Jubilee proposals
V
HUNGER: A CALL TO LOVE
The poor are calling us to love
The poverty of God
The Church is with the poor
Poor and rich alike are called to freedom
Necessary reform of the human heart
"Place not your trust in idols!"
Listening to the poor
Listening to God
Changing our lives...
...to change life
Supporting initiatives
Every Christian is on mission in all activities
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