448 POVERTY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT

YOUCAT Lesson 448

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

448  Are poverty and underdevelopment an inescapable fate?

God has entrusted to us a rich earth that could offer all men sufficient food and living space.  Yet there are whole regions, countries, and continents in which many people have scarcely the bare necessities for living.  There are complex historical causes for this division in the world, but it (can be remedied).  The rich countries have the moral obligation to help the underdeveloped nations out of poverty through developmental aid and the establishment of just economic and commercial conditions.

Mwemena remembers “a feeling of revolt and despair” upon having her family’s land seized by the Chemaf mining company. “I shouldn’t have had to leave under these conditions without any assurance of the future, without any alternative means of livelihood.” She makes and sells charcoal (photo above) to help pay the bills. ….. 448

Crying Out for Reform in Congo

Most of the mines in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo are operated by multinational companies, which means the Congolese people reap very little of the profits from their own homeland. Since 2007, The Carter Center (yes, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn) has been advocating for mining reform by pushing for transparency in mining contracts and conducting human rights impact assessments. It has also encouraged mining companies to fairly compensate people whose lands the companies have taken.

There are more than a billion people living on this earth who must make do with less than one dollar per day.  They suffer from a lack of food and clean drinking water; most of them have no access to education or medical care.  It is estimated that more than 25,000 people die every day from malnutrition.  Many of them are children.

“Economy of Communion” was developed so that one day we will be able to give this example: a people in which no one is needy and no one is poor.”  Chiara Lubich (1920-2008; foundress of the Focolare Movement), 2001

“The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance.  And the Church, cut to the quick by this cry, asks each and every man to hear his brother’s plea and answer it a lovingly.  Paul VI, (1897-1978), Encyclical “Populorum Progessio”