‘Poverty and Development: a Catholic Perspective’ was the title of a two-day conference held at the Jesuit University of Fordham in New York at the end of September.

It was the second in a series of conferences organised by Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation to prepare a document to present to Pope Francis next year and later circulate to universities, think-tanks and research centres. The last such conference will be held in Dublin this month.

What sparked this initiative of debates with the participation of economists, politicians and sociologists, was the Pope’s message to the foundation’s gathering in May 2013:

“Delve deeply in the significance of poverty and on how the economic system can alleviate the sufferings of the poor and the marginalised”. Since then he has spoken of the need for a new economic model.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Permanent Observer of Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, spoke of western society’s reaction to the “new normal” of inequality, immigration, child abuse and child labour.

This was further accentuated by witness accounts by Cardinal Chibly Langlois of Haiti of suffering during and after the earthquake in his country, and by Metropolitan Archbishop of Aleppo Jean-Clement Jeanbart, of the civil strife in Syria today.

The stories of human suffering can be seen in contrast to either western world indifference or outright prejudice.

General Romeo Dallaire, retired UN Force Commander during the Rwandan genocide explained that it is only western self-interest that had driven the UN to send thousands of soldiers to Kosovo but only a few hundred soldiers to Rwanda during the genocide.

Various speakers spoke on how poverty and suffering can be dealt with in effective and practical ways.

Catholic social teaching inspires new methods of tackling inequality, immigration, the aftermath of natural disasters and civil strife. Mgr Tomasi said that we have to depart from the notion of “one size fits all”.

The message is that of listening to those who are most vulnerable and to get them around the table, not confining discussion to politicians and international organisation bureaucrats.

We have to depart from the notion of ‘one size fits all’

Paolo Carozza of Notre Dame University said we have to move from a multi-disciplinary approach to development to an integrated one to understand the suffering of the marginalised and to seek ways of improvement and development.

The integrated approach reflects the human person, where you cannot separate physiology, intellect, emotions and spirit.

This means we need to start with the human persona, and the recognition of human dignity and the value of life. Solutions to poverty, be they economic or social, have to start with the person, and the person’s valuation of life.

It is people, says Carozza, that make economic and social development possible, not inanimate structures and systems created in offices away from where the drama is taking place. He referred to the Pope’s calls for mankind to be artisans of their own destinies. This implies that we need to return to the inherent benefits of family life and social community.

He gives as an example the value of freedom of religion when religious communities are on the forefront of education, health and support of refugees, immigrants and victims of strife. Structures and systems will only follow the human urge and challenge to find ways to rebuild in the aftermath of economic recession, civil war or natural tragedy.

Economists in the conference, including Henry Schwalbenberg of Fordham University, said that unless the “paper economy” is transformed to the “real economy” we are stuck in social and economic stalemate with inequality continuing to widen. Therefore, not any development aid will do, but a resilient development that is sustainable and inter-generational – development that takes place today but not at the expense of future generations.

Carozza points out that there is no paradox in Pope Francis’s words when he says we should go out to the periphery, while returning to the centre of the words of Jesus.

We can only drive to the periphery where there is poverty and suffering and develop the integrated human person if we believe and live the purity of the words of Jesus Christ.