Catholic Church on Poverty 

Click on the Issue to connect to the USCCB WebPage:

- Economic Justice - Economy

"We have forgotten and are still forgetting that over and above business, logic and the parameters of the market is the human being; and that something is men and women in as much as they are human beings by virtue of their profound dignity: to offer them the possibility of living a dignified life and of actively participating in the common good. Benedict XVI reminded us that precisely because it is human, all human activity, including economic activity, must be ethically structured and governed (cf. Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate. . . , n. 36). We must return to the centrality of the human being, to a more ethical vision of activities and of human relationships without the fear of losing something."

- Pope Francis, Address to the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, 5/25/13

- Poverty
- Domestic Poverty
- Global Poverty: 3 Minute Video
- Safety Net and Income Support

"How can it be that even today there are still people dying of hunger? Condemned to illiteracy? Lacking the most basic medical care? Without a roof over their heads? . . . Christians must learn to make their act of faith in Christ by discerning His voice in the cry for help that rises from this world of poverty."

--Pope John Paul II, Novo MIllennio Ineunte, 2001

- Social Security and Welfare

"Every person has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are suitable for the proper development of life... Therefore, a human being has the right to security in case of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old age, unemployment..."

--Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963