Vatican- Pope- World hunger caused by greed, materialism

(Social Justice South Africa; c.f. Catholic Culture 16/10/08; Catholic News Service 16/10/08; Vatican Information Service 16/10/08)

Article by Marc Aupiais

His Excellency- Holy Father- Pope Benedict XVI has again taken a stand against materialism, and selfish market speculation, as well as against the inordinate way in which funds are spent selfishly on sophisticated military technology by many developed nations- rather than on food security. He says that these actions are a cause of the World Food Crisis. This he said to the director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in written form.

Benedict XVI believes that materialism- which only aims at physical goods- shows a misunderstanding of the divine dignity of the human person, who was elevated to great lengths when God chose to become man.

The reckless decisions by western governments and those who vote for these persons to gain power- has a much larger effect on the poor than on western voters. The recent financial crisis for instance is estimated to cost 100 million people their livelihood- the hardest hit majority of these will be on the African continent.