South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, January 8, 1993 Page: 2 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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2-January 8,1993
SIC
Peace-
In particular, I would like to call attention to the threat
to peace posed by poverty, especially when it becomes
destitution. There are millions of men, women and chil-
dren suffering every day from hunger, insecurity and
emargination. These situations constitute a grave affront
to human dignity and contribute to social instability.
The inhuman choice of war
At the present time, there exists yet another situation
which is a source of poverty and destitution: the situation
caused by war between nations and by conflicts within a
given country. In the face of the tragedies which have
caused and are still causing bloodshed, especially for
ethnic reasons, in various regions of the world, I feel the
duty to rccallwhatlsaidinmymcssagcforthc 1981 World
Day of Peace, the theme of which was: “To serve peace,
respect freedom.” At that lime, I emphasized that the
indispensable premise for building true peace is respect for
the freedom and rights of other individuals and groups.
Peace is obtained by promoting free peoples in a world of
freedom. The appeal 1 made then is still valid today:
“Respect for the freedom of peoples and nations is an
integral part of peace. Wars continue to break out and
destruction has fallen upon peoples and whole cultures
because the sovereignty of a people or a nation was not
respected. Every continent has seen and suffered from
wars and struggles caused by one nation' s attempts to limit
another’s autonomy” (No. 8).
I went on to say: “Without a willingness to respect the
freedom of every people, nation and culture, and without
a worldwide consensus on this subject, it will be difficult
to create the conditions for peace.... This presupposes a
conscious public commitment on the part of each nation
and its government to renounce claims and designs inju-
rious to other nations. In other words, it presupposes a
refusal to accept any doctrine of national or cultural
supremacy” (ibid., 9).
The consequences deriving from such a commitment
are easy to see, also with regard to economic relations
between states. To reject all temptations to secure eco-
nomic dominance over the nations means to renounce a
policy inspired by the prevailing criterion of profit, and to
replace it with a policy gu ided by the criterion of solidarity
toward all and especially toward the poorest.
Poverty as a source of conflict
The number of people living in conditions of extreme
poverty is enormous. I am thinking, for example, of the
tragic situations in certain countries of Africa, Asia and
Latin America. There exist vast groups, often whole
sectors of the population, which find themselves on the
margins of civil life within their own countries. Among
them is a growing number of children who in order to
survive can rely on nobody except themselves. Such a
situation is not only an affront to human dignity but also
represents a clear threat to peace. A state, whatever its
political organization or economic system, remains fragile
and unstable if it docs not give constant attention to its
weakest members and if it fails to do everything possible
to ensure that at least their primary needs are satisfied.
The poorest countries’ right to development imposes
upon the developed countries a clear duty to come to their
aid. The Second Vatican Council said in this regard:
“Everyone has the right to have a part of the earth’s goods
that is sufficient for each and his or her dependents.... We
arc obliged to support the poor, and not just from our
surplus” (“Gaudium et Spcs,” 69). The church’s admoni-
tion is clear, and it is a faithful echo of the voice of Christ:
earthly goods arc meant for the whole human family and
cannot be reserved for the exclusive benefit of a few (cf.
“Centcsimus Annus,” 31 and 37).
In the interest of the individual — and thus ol peace —
it is therefore urgently necessary to introduce into the
mechanisms of the economy the necessary correctives
which will enable those mechanisms to ensure a more just
and equitable distribution of goods. By itself the rules of
the market are not sufficient to accomplish this; society
must accept its own responsibilities (cf. ibid., 48). It must
do so by increasing its efforts, which are often ylready
considerable, to eliminate the causes of poverty and their
tragic consequences. No country by itself can succeed in
such an undertaking. For this very reason it is necessary to
work together, with that solidarity demanded by a world
which has become ever more interdependent. To allow
situations of extreme poverty to persist is to create social
conditions ever more exposed to the threat of violence and
conflict.
SECOND FRONT PAGE
All individuals and social groups have a right to live in
conditions which enable them to provide for personal and
fam ily needs and to share in the life and progressof the local
community. When this right is not recognized, it easily
happens that the people concerned feel that they are victims
of a structure which does not welcome them, and they react
strongly. This is especially the case with young people,
who, being deprived of adequate education and employ-
ment opportunities, arc most exposed to the risk of being
marginalized and exploited. Everybody is aware of the
worldwide problem of unemployment, especially among
the young, with the consequent impoverishment of an ever
greater number of individuals and whole families. More-
over, unemploymcntisofien the tragic rcsultof the destruc-
tion of the economic infrastructure of a country affected by
war or internal conflicts.
Problems which beset the poor
Here I would like to mention briefly a number of
particularly disturbing problems which beset the poor and
hence threaten peace.
First of all, there is the problem of foreign debt, which for
some countries, and within them for the less well-off social
strata, continues to be an intolerable burden, despite efforts
made to lighten it by the international community, govern-
ments and financial institutions. Is it not the poorest groups
in these countries which often have to bear the major
burden of repayment? Such an unjust situation can open the
door to growing resentment, to a sense of frustration and
even desperation. In many cases the governments them-
selves share the widespread discom fort of their people, and
this influences relations with other slates. Perhaps the lime
has come to re-examine the problem of foreign debt and to
give it the priority which it deserves. The conditions for
total or partial repayment need to be reviewed, with an
effort to find definitive solutions capable of ful ly absorbing
the burdensome social consequences of adjustment pro-
grams. Furthermore it will be necessary to act on the causes
of indebtedness, by making the granting of aid conditional
upon concrete commitments on the part of governments to
reduce excessive or unnecessary expenditures — here one
thinks particularly of expenditures on arms - - and to
guarantee that subsidies do in fact reach the needy.
Another grave problem is drugs. Sadly and tragically,
everyone knows of their connection with violence and
crime. Similarly, everyone knows that in some parts of the
world, because of pressure from drug traffickers, it is
precisely the very poor who cultivate the plants for drug
production. The lavish profits promised — which in fact
represent only a tiny part of the profits derived from their
cultivation — are a temptation difficult to resist by those
who gain a markedly insufficient income from the produc-
tion of traditional crops. The first thing to be done in order
to help growers to overcome this situation is therefore to
offer them adequate means to escape from their poverty.
A further problem stems from the situations of grave
economic difficulty in some countries. These situations
encourage mass migrations to more fortunate countries, in
which then arise tensions which disturb the social order. In
order to respond to such reactions of xenophobic violence,
it is not enough simply to have recourse to provisional
emergency measures. Rather, what is needed is to tackle the
causes, by promoting through new forms of international
solidarity the progress and development of the countries
from which the migrant movements originate.
Destitution therefore is a hidden but real threat to peace.
By impairing human dignity, it constitutes a.serious attack
on the value of life and strikes at the heart of the peaceful
development of society.
Poverty as a result of conflict
In recent years we have witnessed on almost every
continent local wars and internal conflicts of savage inten-
sity. Ethnic, tribal and racial violence has destroyed human
lives, divided communities that previously lived together
in peace and left in its wake anguish and feelings of haired.
Recourse to violence, in fact, aggravates existing tensions
and creates new ones. Nothing is resolved by war; on the
contrary, everything is placed in jeopardy by war. The
results of this scourge are the suffering and dcatiT of
innumerable individuals, the disintegration of human rela-
tions and the irreparable loss of an immense artistic and
environmental patrimony. War worsens the sufferings of
the poor; indeed, it creates new poor by destroying means
of subsistence, homes and property, and by eating away at
the very fabric of the soc ial environment. Y oung people see
their hopes for the future shattered and loo often, as victims,
they become irresponsible agents of conflict. Women,
From page 1
children, the elderly, the sick and the wounded are forced
to flee and become refugees who have no possessions
beyond what they can carry with them. Helpless and
defenseless, they seek refuge in other countries or regions
often as poor and turbulent as their own.
While acknowledging that the international and hu-
manitarian organizations are doing much to alleviate the
tragic fate of the victims of violence, I feel it is my duty
to urge all people of good will to intensify their efforts. In
some instances, in fact, the future of refugees depends
entirely on the generosity of people who take them in —
people who are as poor, if not poorer, than they are. It is
only through the concern and cooperation of the interna-
tional community that satisfactory solutions will be found.
After so many unnecessary massacres, it is in the final
analysisof fundamental importance to recognize, once and
for all, that war never helps the human community, that
violence destroys and never builds up, that the wounds it
causes remain long unhealed, and that as a result of
conflicts the already grim condition of die poor deterio-
rates still further, and new forms of poverty appear. The
disturbing spectacle of tragedies caused by war is before
the eyes of world public opinion. May the distressing
pictures quite recendy transmitted by the media at least
serve as an effective warning to all—individuals, societies
and states - - and remind everyone that money ought not to
be used for war, nor for destroying and killing, but for
defending the dignity of man, for improving his life and for
building a truly open, free and harmonious society.
While acknowledging that the international and hu-
manitarian organizations are doing much to alleviate the
tragic fate of the victims of violence, I feel it is my duty
to urge all people of good will to intensify their efforts. In
some instances, in fact, the future of refugees depends
entirely on the generosity of people who take them in —
people who are as poor, if not poorer, than they are. It is
only dirough the concern and cooperation of the interna-
tional community that satisfactory solutions will be found.
After so many unnecessary massacres, it is in die final
analysisof fundamental importance to recognize, once and
for all, that war never helps the human community, that
violence destroys and never builds up, that the wounds it
causes remain long unhealed, and that as a result of
conflicts the already grim condition of the poor deterio-
rates still further, and new forms of poverty appear. The
disturbing spectacle of tragedies caused by war is before
the eyes of world public opinion. May the distressing
pictures quite recently transmitted by the media at least
serveas an effective warning to all—individuals, societies
and states - - and remind everyone that money ought not to
be used for war, nor for destroying and killing, but for
defending the dignity of man, for improving his life and for
building a truly open, free and harmonious society.
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A spirit of poverty
as a source of peace
In today ^industrialized countries people arc dominated
by the frenzied race for possession material goods. The
consumer society makes the gap separating rich from poor
even more obvious, and the uncontrolled search for a
comfortable life risks blinding people to the needs of
others. Inordcr to promote the social, cultural, spiritual and
also economic welfare of all members of society, it is
therefore absolutely essential to stem the unrestrained
consumption of earthly goods and to control the creation
of artificial needs. Moderation and simplicity ought to
become the criteria of our daily lives. The quantity of
goods consumed by a tiny fraction of the world population
produces a demand greater than available resources. A
reduction of this demand constitutes a first step in allevi-
ating poverty, provided that it is accompanied by effective
measures to guarantee a fair distribution of the world's
wealth.
In this regard, the Gospel invites believers not to accu-
mulate the goods of this passing world: “Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust con-
sume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven” (Ml. 6:19-20). This is a
duly intrinsic to the Christian vocation, no less than the
duly of working to overcome poverty; and it is also a very
effective means for succeeding in this task.
Evangelical poverty is very different from socio-eco-
nomic poverty. While the latter has harsh and often tragic
characteristics, since it is experienced as a form of coer-
cion, evangelical poverty is chosen freely by the person
who intends in this way to respond to Christ’s admonition:
"Whoever of you docs not renounce all that he has cannot
be my disciple” (Lk. 14:33). ■
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Horseman, Pete & Vega, John Michael. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, January 8, 1993, newspaper, January 8, 1993; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth855936/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .