Major Vatican Document Seeks War on Hunger
Does anyone know where to find this text?…. Oct. 24, 1996 (CWNews.com) VATICAN (CWN) — The Pontifical Council Cor Unum today published a long-awaited Vatican document on world hunger. The document, entitled Hunger in the World: A Challenge for All, was developed under the guidance of Pope John Paul II.
Although it was published and introduced at a press conference today, the Vatican document is dated October 4– the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The document is intended to contribute to the discussion at a worldwide summit on food and agriculture, sponsored by the United Nations, which will take place in Rome in November.
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Introducing the document to assembled reporters, Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, the president of Cor Unum, remarked that in today’s world some 34,000 children die of hunger. That fact is a challenge to the conscience of every Christian, he said.
The Vatican document works from the premise that hunger is not caused by overpopulation, or by some failure of world agriculture. The world’s resources are adequate to furnish enough food for every human being, it concludes. So the Pontifical Council searches for other causes to explain the persistence of hunger. Throughout the document, the main focus is on ethical considerations, based in turn on the Gospel and the social teachings of the Church. Cor Unum explains that “in order to make progress toward solutions to the problem of hunger and malnutrition in the world, it is essential to seize upon the ethical dimension of the problem.”
The Vatican document dismisses the notion that hunger is caused– or aggravated– by population growth. And the Council insists that efforts to combat population growth cannot succeed if they ignore the economic and social welfare of the people in developing nations. Once economic development begins, the document points out, population growth inevitably slows of its own accord– without outside intervention.
The fundamental cause of hunger and malnutrition today, the Vatican concludes, is not something that can be explained by either demographic pressure or agricultural failure. Rather, it is a political problem: the countries in which hunger has been most severe are countries in which political leaders have failed abysmally in their task of providing for the common good. Corruption, warfare, arbitrary restrictions on trade and commerce– all these “structures of sin” contribute to the problem.
The Vatican document notes that many Third World countries today are saddled with enormous public debt, which they owe to lenders in the developed world. Those debts must be lightened, Cor Unum argues, but that reduction must be accompanied by fundamental social and economic reforms in the developing nations, so that the savings can be used to fuel broad economic growth.
Insofar as development will not take place overnight, the Vatican document acknowledges the need for richer nations to provide immediate relief, including food supplies. But such aid must be regarded only as a temporary solution, the document cautions; emergency aid should, whenever possible, be accompanied by projects that will help the poorer nations to become self-sufficient.
The document also points out that many developing countries base their economic policies on short-term political results, rather than the long-term welfare of the population. It is destructive, the Vatican argues, to export natural resources at reduced rates, or to prop up the prices of food and other essential goods, in order to satisfy the political interests of wealthy individuals or foreign corporations.
Warfare in developing countries contributes to hunger in two ways, the document relates. First, the funds spent on arms could be better devoted to social programs that might raise the standard of living, and the soldiers employed in fighting could be making a more productive contribution to the national economy. Second, the leaders of contending factions often manipulate the supply of food to punish their enemies. Even on the international scene, the Vatican notes, the widespread use of embargoes to punish “outlaw” nations results in privation for the citizens of those countries rather than the leaders. For these reasons, Cor Unum finds, democracy and disarmament– two steps that put political power in the hands of the people rather than the military or the elite– are indispensable steps toward a lasting solution to hunger.
The Vatican document calls on international organizations to help developing countries. Some of the steps involved in the process of development will be: further education, respectful treatment of women, policies designed to protect family life, and respect for the traditional structures of society.
The document offers three concrete suggestions: the creation of emergency stocks of basic foodstuffs, policies favorable to family farming, and an international bank of donations to answer emergency needs. However, the larger message of the Vatican document is the need for all Christians to make a personal commitment to the fight against world hunger– to “change their lives in order to fight hunger”– a phrase used by Pope John Paul in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio.
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Tags: Hunger