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UN Economic and Social Council

A need for more than financial solutions

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Church and migration
UN Economic and Social Council

GENEVA, 9 July 2009 — His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, calls attention to the need for real solutions to the challenges posed by the economic crisis.

The Holy See Delegation notes with deep concern predictions by the World Bank that during 2009, an additional 53 to 65 million people will be trapped in extreme poverty and that the number of people chronically hungry will exceed one billion, 800 million of whom live in rural areas where public health is weakest and where innovative health care initiatives are urgent. We can reasonably conclude that significant numbers of those extremely poor and hungry people will be more at risk of contracting both communicable and chronic, non-communicable diseases.

In his new encyclical Pope Benedict XVI states:

"Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility."

An ethical approach to development is needed which implies a new model of global development centered on the human person rather than profit, and inclusive of the needs and aspirations of the entire human family.


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