“We need to broaden our perspective…We need to grow in a solidarity which ‘would allow all peoples to become the artisans of their destiny'” (Pope Francis, 190)
Preferential Option for the Poor Articles
Structural Poverty and Catholic Social Teaching
Structural poverty is particularly egregious for “those living in conditions opposed to human dignity: those who lack basic rights and needs such as food, water, hygiene, work and the opportunity to develop and grow culturally”. (Pope Francis, 2)
Who are the Working Poor?
Visit any impoverished town or inner city and it will be clear that material lack is not the key problem.
All, Preferential Option for the Poor
“[I]t is well known that there are many other forms of poverty, especially in modern society – not only economic but cultural and spiritual poverty as well.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 57)
All, Preferential Option for the Poor
"We need to broaden our perspective…We need to grow in a solidarity which 'would allow all peoples to become the artisans of their destiny'" (Pope Francis, 190)
All, Preferential Option for the Poor
Structural poverty is particularly egregious for “those living in conditions opposed to human dignity: those who lack basic rights and needs such as food, water, hygiene, work and the opportunity to develop and grow culturally”. (Pope Francis, 2)
All, Preferential Option for the Poor
Visit any impoverished town or inner city and it will be clear that material lack is not the key problem.
All, Preferential Option for the Poor, Secularism
By material and economic standards the ten poorest countries are in Africa. Conversely, the ten richest countries are mostly in Europe. But this isn't the whole story.
All, Preferential Option for the Poor
Poverty is not just material. It is also moral and spiritual. Poverty is an affront to human dignity, and so the Church has always taught a preferential option for the poor.
