Solve world hunger by policies of inclusion, Vatican delegate tells UN
October 30, 2013
The problem of world hunger is caused not by an overall shortage of food but by economic and social structures that exclude the needy, the Vatican’s representative told a UN session on October 29.
“Hunger, like all forms of poverty, is caused by exclusion,” said Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the permanent observer for the Holy See at UN headquarters in New York. Quoting Pope Francis, he said that a satisfactory solution requires leaving “behind the temptations of power, wealth, and self-interest” to devise policies that serve the common good.
Archbishop Chullikatt said that hunger should be recognized as a human-rights issue, in recognition of “the human right to food.” He called for equitable distribution of food, noting that an estimated 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year, even while millions face starvation.
In his intervention the Vatican delegate said that proposed solutions to the problem of hunger must be guided by the principles of subsidiarity rather than entrusted to large global organizations. He explained subsidiarity by saying: “This principle recommends that human activities be carried out at the most local and immediate level possible, so as to maximize participation.”
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Posted by: impossible -
Nov. 05, 2013 11:35 PM ET USA
Charity is the responsibility of individual citizens and private charities. It is not a government function. A free market society produces more for the poor than any government, especially totalitarian governments and those bent upon becoming such.
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Posted by: Thomas429 -
Oct. 31, 2013 2:25 AM ET USA
No! No world body, except possibly the Body of Christ (His Church) and that by moral suasion only, should be doing this. The concept of subsidiarity is key. One person helping another in the most direct way possible. All of human needs can be met by individuals voluntarilly serving their self interest by producing goods and or services (value) for proffit. That is the true meaning of the Lord's highest law. "Love the Lord God and your neighbor as yourself".
