Sam Eyoboka
2 January 2009
CATHOLIC Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI has called on nations of the world and individuals to play an active part in fighting poverty as a means of building world peace in his message on the Word Day of Peace.
Reading the Pope's World Day of Peace Message to world titled; "Fighting poverty to build peace," yesterday at the Holy Cross Cathedral during the New Year Mass, Sir Steve Omojafor quoted the Catholic pontiff, as reiterating his predecessor's charge in 1993 stressed that poverty is often a contributory factor or a compounding element in conflicts, including armed ones.
"Our world," he said "shows increasing evidence of another grave threat to peace: many individuals and indeed whole peoples are living today in conditions of extreme poverty. The gap between rich and poor has become more marked, even in the most economically developed nations."
It remains true, Pope Benedict argued that every form of externally imposed poverty has at its root a lack of respect for the transcendent dignity of the human person, adding "when man is not considered within the total context of his vocation, and when the demands of a true human ecology are not respected, the cruel forces of poverty are unleashed, as is evident in certain specific areas that I shall now considered briefly one by one."
The 81-year old Pontiff said in today's globalised world, it is increasingly evident that peace can be built only if everyone is assured the possibility of reasonable growth: sooner or later, the distortions produced by unjust systems have to be paid for by everyone.
Outlining areas that require attention in the fight against poverty, which once again highlights its intrinsic moral dimension, is child poverty.
"When poverty strikes a family," the Pontiff says, "the children prove to be the most vulnerable victims: almost half of those living in absolute poverty today are children.
To take the side of children when considering poverty means giving priority to those objectives which concerns them most directly, such as caring for mothers, commitment to education, access to vaccines, medical care and drinking water, safeguarding the environment and above all, commitment to defence of the family and the stability of relations within it."
The Pontiff also connected the current food crisis which places in jeopardy the fulfilment of basic needs to be a potential threat to the fight against poverty.
According to him, "the crisis is characterised not so much by a shortage of food, as by difficulty in gaining access to it and by different forms of speculation: in other words, by a structural lack of political and economic institutions capable of addressing needs and emergencies."
Continuing, he said: "It is utterly foolish to build a luxury home in the midst of desert or decay," he added globalisation on its own is incapable of building peace, and in many cases, it actually creates divisions and conflicts."
Pope Benedict added that if anything, the development points to a need: to be oriented towards a goal of profound solidarity that seeks the good of each and all, stating "in this sense, globalisation should be seen as a good opportunity to achieve something important in the fight against poverty, and to place at the disposal of justice and peace resources which were scarcely conceivable previously."
The Vatican celebrates World Peace Day on January 1 every year.
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