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Guest
Hunger is not a topic that gets headlines in the press, but, sad to say, it involves many millions of people. The pope tried to plead the case of these unfortunates recently:
“The statistics on world hunger are dramatic,” the pope said. “Hundreds of millions of human beings are suffering from grave malnutrition, and each year millions of children die from hunger or its effects.”
Some data from the United Nations’ World Food Program supports those assertions:
852 million people across the world were hungry in 2004, up from 842 million a year ago. This is more than the combined populations of the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Hunger and malnutrition claim 10 million lives every year, which works out to 25,000 lives every day, or one life every 5 seconds.
Six million children under 5 die every year from hunger.
“An adequate response to this need,” John Paul II said, “which is growing in scale and urgency, calls for a vast mobilization of public opinion.”
In this regard, John Paul reminded the diplomats of a core principle of Catholic social teaching: “the universal destination of the earth’s goods,” meaning that the individual right to private property and profit, though legitimate, is not absolute.
“While this principle cannot be used to justify collectivist forms of economic policy, it should serve to advance a radical commitment to justice and a more attentive and determined display of solidarity,” the pope said.
“The statistics on world hunger are dramatic,” the pope said. “Hundreds of millions of human beings are suffering from grave malnutrition, and each year millions of children die from hunger or its effects.”
Some data from the United Nations’ World Food Program supports those assertions:
852 million people across the world were hungry in 2004, up from 842 million a year ago. This is more than the combined populations of the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Hunger and malnutrition claim 10 million lives every year, which works out to 25,000 lives every day, or one life every 5 seconds.
Six million children under 5 die every year from hunger.
“An adequate response to this need,” John Paul II said, “which is growing in scale and urgency, calls for a vast mobilization of public opinion.”
In this regard, John Paul reminded the diplomats of a core principle of Catholic social teaching: “the universal destination of the earth’s goods,” meaning that the individual right to private property and profit, though legitimate, is not absolute.
“While this principle cannot be used to justify collectivist forms of economic policy, it should serve to advance a radical commitment to justice and a more attentive and determined display of solidarity,” the pope said.