VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Homelessness is “a global pandemic” that demands a Christian response and government intervention, a Vatican official said during the Vatican’s first international conference addressing the pastoral needs of the homeless. Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, said more than one billion people are homeless or lack adequate shelter, and that number is on the rise.Some 50,000 people, mostly women and children, die every day because they lack decent shelter, clean water and proper sanitation, he said in a Nov. 26 address.In the United States alone, 3.5 million people are estimated to be homeless with up to 1.4 million of them children, he said.He said these “figures should startle, if not shock us, and they should goad us to greater pastoral action” and advocacy work aimed at tackling the root causes of homelessness and poverty.Full story