Vatican City, Oct 16, 2017 / 05:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday Pope Francis issued a lengthy appeal to address the problem of world hunger not only through talk, but concrete action by going to the root of the problem and introducing a new global mentality aimed at love rather than profit.
With the risk of indifference rising as deaths due to hunger, abandonment or war are reported on a daily basis, “we urgently need to find new ways to transform the possibilities we have into a guarantee that will allow each person to face the future with established confidence, and not only with some illusion,” the Pope said Oct. 16.
In light of the vast portions of the global population who continue to suffer from malnutrition, war, climate change, forced migration and various forms of exploitation, “we can and must change course,” he said.
Noting how some would say simply “reducing the number of mouths to feed” would be enough to solve the problem of food shortage and global inequality, Francis said this is “a false solution” given current patterns of waste and consumption in some areas of the world.
Rather, he proposed “sharing” as a more effective strategy, which “implies conversion, and this is demanding.”
Francis spoke during his annual address to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimates that across the board, a third of food produced in the world each year is wasted, amounting to some 1.3 billion tons.
He suggested a change in language used on the international scene which is focused on “the category of love, conjugated as gratuitousness, equal treatment, solidarity, a culture of gift, brotherhood and mercy.”
“These words express, effectively, the practical content of the term ‘humanism,’ often used in international activity,” he said.
Francis also highlighted the relationship between hunger and forced migration, saying the problem can only be solved “ if we go to the root of the problem,” rather that coming up with superficial solutions.
Referencing various studies, the Pope noted that the main underlying causes of hunger, which in itself prompts many to migrate, are “conflicts and climate change.”
The effects of climate change are felt on a daily basis, he said, explaining that thanks to science, the international community already knows how to face the problem.
He praised initiatives such as the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, and urged nations to uphold the agreement. However, he noted that “unfortunately, some are moving away from (it).”
Though Pope Francis mentioned no one specifically, his reference includes the United States, which pulled out of the agreement June 1 as President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would pursue other means of addressing the environmental issue which are more favorable to Americans.
In terms of conflict, the Pope pointed to various “martyred populations” suffering from decades of war, many of which “could have been avoided or at least stopped, and yet they spread such disastrous and cruel effects as food insecurity and the forced displacement of peoples.”
To overcome these conflicts, both “good will and dialogue” are needed, as well as firm and total commitment to a “gradual and systemic disarmament” in war zones.
“What is the point of denouncing that, because of military conflicts, millions of people are victims of hunger and malnutrition, if we do not act effectively in the interest of peace and disarmament?” he said.
“It is clear that wars and climate change are an occasion for hunger, so let us avoid, then, presenting it as an incurable illness.”
Human mobility, he said, can and must be managed by a coordinated and systemic action on the parts of governments that are in accord with existing international standards, and which are “impregnated with love and intelligence.”
In terms of solutions, he said it’s possible to stop the use of weapons of mass destruction because the world has recognized “the destructive capacity of these weapons.” However, he asked whether “we equally aware of the effects of the poverty and exclusion?”
People who are “willing to risk everything” to escape violence, hunger, poverty or climate change won’t be stopped by physical, economic, legislative or ideological barriers, he said, explaining that “a coherent application of the principle of humanity” is the only thing capable of addressing the problem.
Francis urged “a broad and sincere” dialogue at all levels of society in order for “the best solutions” to be found and for new relationships to be formed which are characterized by “mutual responsibility, solidarity and communion.”
Although current initiatives in place are praiseworthy, “they are not enough,” he said, and stressed the need to promote and develop new actions and financial programs “which combat hunger and structural misery more effectively and with high hopes of success.”
In developing these new tactics, it’s necessary to avoid the temptation “to act in favor of small groups of the population” or to used aid funding “inappropriately, favoring corruption, or lack of legality,” he said.
Closing his remarks, the Pope voiced the desire for the Catholic Church to directly participate in the various efforts being pursued and implemented given her mission, “which leads it to love everyone and also forces it to remind those who have national or international responsibility of the great duty to meet the needs of the poorest.”
Francis, who received a standing ovation for his speech, gifted the FAO with a marble statue commemorating Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian refugee boy whose body washed up on the shores of Turkey in 2015 after a failed attempt to cross the Mediterranean.
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In pre-colonial and village India the Muslims and Hindus often worshiped in the same temples, but on different days. And, so, it came to pass that the entire world became such a village—a global village.
And all was friendship as in the Garden. The diversity of the Areopagus again worked just fine, as did the pagan Kaaba with its multiplicity of 360 deities, one for each day of the year, or Hinduism with (it is said) its 300 million, or the West with the diversity of worshiping private choice in all things large and small.
And, the followers of Christ, and other religions, found their places once again as millets within a new Ottoman Empire. Or, as they had earlier, by paying into an annual protection racket to persist as encysted dhimmis within the exclusive ummah of Islam—-where there is no doctrine of original sin, and no redemption, and with a totally inscrutable Allah not even the elementary philosophical principle of non-contradiction.
And, so, “identity” religion resonated with the omnivorous ideology of “identity politics,” and even LGBTQ identity and religion…and in the global village they all lived happily ever after with the redefinition of even the inborn and universal natural law.
A deep sleep fell upon the leveled landscape, and even in the halls of the equally-leveled dicasteries of the apostolic Church. And, there was the twilight of universal fraternity, because no fire was cast upon the earth (Luke 12:41). And the world grew old as the Church grew old, with no memory of the successors of the Apostles nor of the backwardist twitchings of such as G.K. Chesterton who once, in a land far away, had said:
“Those runners [messengers of the Gospel] gather impetus as they run. Ages afterwards they still speak as if something had just happened. They have not lost the speed and momentum of messengers; they have hardly lost, as it were, the wild eyes of witnesses. . . .We might sometimes fancy that the Church grows younger as the world grows old” (The Everlasting Man).
Has any man worshiping his own vanity ever second guessed what demons he might unleash?
You are a very confused man, who along with the current pope is spreading universal error throughout the world and especially amongst the young people. All religions are not equal in their approach to God. There is only ONE way and that is Jesus Christ, Who said; “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except by Me.” How dare you and this pope even compare Christianity with some ridiculous primative cult that worships images of beings with twenty eyes, fifty feet and two hundred arms. Are you and this pontiff insane? The answer is an obvious, YES. In the wake of all your nonsense, you are leading millions of innocent souls into confusion, error and darkness. Shame on you and your pope. Shame on you for not pointing the young to the TRUTH, which is Jesus Christ through the Old and New Covenants called the Bible or Sacred Scripture.
Be assured, Almighty God weeps, while Satan rejoices.
“A deep sleep fell upon the leveled landscape, and even in the halls of the equally-leveled dicasteries of the apostolic Church”.
Was it that the Church experienced its Rip Van Winkle moment due to the anesthetizing effect of free choice egalitarianism precipitated by the heady brew of the Kaaterskill Dutchmen Rahner, Kung, Kasper, Häring?
Now there you go again! (Reagan to Jimmy Carter). 44 years later, Now there you go again! (Catholics to His Holiness). I thought the whose religion is right and whose isn’t matter was done with. That all religions are not the same does that mean they’re all right? How’s that? Francis I says diversity is a gift from God [I hear alarm bells].
Although his praise of Albanian Catholic martyr Maria Tuci is warranted, why diversity? During the post WWII period Catholics, Muslims, and Eastern Orthodox were severely persecuted by Marxist Enver Hoxha. Their deadly persecution deserves empathy and respect. Does that warrant praise for religious diversity? Clever these Forwardsts.
For an example of how other religions can lead to God see the sacrificial practices and cannibalism of the Aztec religion: see this review by a scholar and the native painting taken from the Codex Mendoza: https://www.thepostil.com/author/dario-fernandez-morera/
For other wonderful ecumenism see this interview, with an illustration of the slave market in Constantinople: https://www.thepostil.com/christian-slavery-under-islam-a-conversation-with-dario-fernandez-morera/
and this scholarly interview in Catholic World Report:
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/12/16/the-forgotten-history-of-christian-slavery-under-islam/
Will this man ever shut up?
Hmh.
Bergoglio’s suggestion that the diversity of religions is a gift from God would have come as quite a surprise to the prophet Elijah, as we see in 1 Kings 18:40:
“Then Elijah said, ‘Capture the prophets of Baal! Don’t let any of them run away!’ The people captured all the prophets. Then Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley, where he killed them.”
The takeaway, I guess, is that the Old Testament is archaic and backwardist. Like the Catholic Mass as it was said for the past 16 or 18 centuries.
It would have come as a surprise to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
If Freemasonry were running this “Magisterium” rather than Catholicism, what would change? If your answer is also “not one iota” then we have a deep problem.
Funny that you put it this way. When I was my diocese’s Director of Catholic Charities, I used to ask the staff: “If we took down our Catholic Charities sign and replaced it with one that said ‘United Way’, would anyone be able to detect a difference?”
The Holy Father is in a confusion. He should be open to addressing it; but will he?
This is not what we were taught in Catholic schools even after Vat II.
Good grief.
The purpose of ecumenism is to bring others to Christ.
https://catholicism.org/g-k-chesterton-on-ecumenism-and-dying-of-broadmindedness.html
When the Council was announced in January 1959 we were told that the Ecumenical Council would be a means of bringing protestants into the One True Church.
Were you there?
The fruits of the enterprise have proven tragically quite the opposite. Now we enjoy a Jesuit bishop of Rome who would see us provide credence to philosophical notions paraded as religions which have no reference to Jesus Christ.
We’ve been duped.
Vat II was more like a Vacuum II.
Every road is a gift. All roads on God’s Holy Ground lead to the Divine. Praise be to the Provider of Roads.
Dr. Cajetan: How about the Road to Hell?
How specifically does the Buddhism road lead to God when Buddhists don’t believe in God? Just curious. Which of the millions of gods in Hinduism is the best representation of the God of the Bible? Just curious.
You need to read Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia’s THE DIVERSITY OF RELIGIONS or Mortimer Adler’s TRUTH IN RELIGION before you mislead others to their spiritual harm with such ignorant nonsense.
I was raised a Roman Catholic, was educated in Catholic schools, even as far as graduate school. It was good solid education. However, with the Second Vatican Council, I began to discern the direction that Catholicism was taking, with a watered down doctrine, a sterilized pulpit and a distancing from even the most fundamental of Tradition, to say nothing of Scripture. I deduced that the Church was headed in the direction of a One World Globalist Organization, and not the Apastolic True Church, supposedly founded by Christ. How sad!! I now refer to myself as simply, a lover of Jesus, a Christian ✝️
You need to return to the Catholic faith which has traditionally taught that outside it there is no salvation. You need to return to proclaim the truth to the apostates currently corrupting the faith. By leaving, you allow the Church to further weaken. As a result of your having left, the Church has been emboldened to further falsify the teachings of Christ, her founder. You need the Holy Bread of Life to sustain you, without which you have no life within you. Read John Chap. 6.
There’s nothing going on today that hasn’t happened in some similar form before. Bishops teaching heresy? Check out Arianism, and how many bishops avowed that. Pope teaching heresy? Check out Pope John XXII. Corrupt clergy?
The Vatican was called a pornocracy around 1000 AD, it was so bad. Bad sermons? Shortly before Vatican 2 there were widespread complaints about not having one at all. Unjust hierarchy, beating up good Catholics for being good Catholics? Check out St. John of the Cross, St. Joan of Arc, St. Athanasius, Padre Pio, Jerome Gracian.
As the Cardinal said to Napoleon, who threatened to destroy the Church: “Your majesty, we, the Catholic clergy, have done our best to destroy the church for the last 1,800 years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.” The Church stands on the promises of God, not on the faithfulness of the clergy.
“Contemplate the diversity of your traditions as a wealth, a wealth willed by God…”
As long as the TRADITIONS don’t include the TRADITIONal Latin Mass.
A religion is the group of structures, conceptual and social, which grow out of a revelation of and by God of Himself and which expresses faith in God in the world.. There is only one authentic religious tradition — the Judeo-Christian tradition. All other entities claiming to be “religion” are philosophical constructs deriving from human reflection on existence in the world.
Bergoglio was claiming that manifest error is as worthy of assent as is the Truth. That is a clearly and plainly a falsehood within and without the parameter of theological analysis.
How the One True God, the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit confronts precisely any individual is unknown to us but we have been given principles on how that trasacts. How is God’s understanding, and mercy operative with any individual soul is not ours to know, but the final personal judgement of us all had best be faced with fear and trembling, and trust that the One True Supreme Being will always be just.
He cannot be otherwise because He is all good.
Islam rejects the revelation of Jesus Christ and seeks to obliterate it. 62,000 Christians have been martyred by Boko-Haram in Nigeria since the year 2000. The identity of “Allah” cannot be conflated with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Who Is the Most Holy Trinity. Save me “they have respect of Jesus as a prophet.” Islam is the original fascist cult. It is all about power, subservience and mind control.
Buddhism allows for atheism [Theravada] or monotheism or polytheism [Mahayana].
Hinduism the same — more a spectrum of madness.
How would Bergoglio confront the polytheism the Apostles faced? Hail Caesar? Luva Aphrodite? Good goin Jupiter?
What utter stupidity. What impotent sentimentalism. Do we have Mr. Rodgers for a pope? Bergoglio doesn’t even rise to that level of cognitive engagement.