Will the poor be with us always?

We Christians are expected to put into practice the words and teachings of Jesus Christ. We should treat His every word with utmost respect. Seen in this perspective, the title of this piece - which is a spin on Christ's words that the poor will be always with us - may seem irreverent. I think it isn't, as I believe Christ would be very happy if we were to arrive at a stage in humanity's development where the poor will no longer be with us.

There is good and not so good news in this regard.

Pope Benedict gives us hope in his message for World Peace Day, entitled 'Fight poverty, build peace'. He said that while in 1981, around 40 per cent of the world's population was below the threshold of absolute poverty, today that percentage has been reduced by as much as half. Good news indeed.

But though the number of people in absolute poverty is declining, the number of those in such a state is still obscenely high. According to information published on Poverty Net, which forms part of the World Bank website, the new poverty estimates released in August show that about 1.4 billion people (one in four) in the developing world were living on less than $1.25 a day in 2005.

While the fight against poverty is everyone's duty, it doesn't mean that all measures being taken to eradicate poverty are enhancing human dignity. Pope Benedict noted, for example, that in the name of the fight against poverty, poor countries are being forced to adopt 'anti-life' policies that lead to the extermination of millions of unborn children, in order to receive much-needed help from rich countries.

Isn't it paradoxically perverse to advocate the destruction of the poorest of all human beings as part of the fight against poverty?

Pope Benedict added that "it also happens that countries afflicted by pandemics (such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS) find themselves held hostage, when they try to address them, by those who make economic aid conditional upon the implementation of anti-life policies".

We all should denounce such policies and lobby the Maltese government to fight them in all international fora it participates in. But this is not enough.

I am certain the food leftovers we threw in the rubbish bins that we placed on our doorsteps on Boxing Day cost much more than millions around the world can spend for the food they need for their daily survival.

We are part of the 'haves' and so, share in the sins of the haves. The wasteful lifestyles that we in the developed world have lived over the past decades are responsible for a lot of suffering in the rest of the world.

Let me end on a note nearer home: The absolute poverty of people living on $1.25 a day does not constitute part of Maltese reality, but people living in relative poverty are part of our scenario. We all can and should help to make the life of these fellow Maltese better.

We are all duty-bound to work for the day where the poor will no longer be with us.