PREFACE

I am very pleased to present the document "WORLD HUNGER A Challenge For All: Development in Solidarity". It has been prepared with great care by the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", upon the request of His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Also this year in his Lenten Message, the Successor to St. Peter, has given voice to those who lack the vital minimum: "The crowds of starving people — children, women, the elderly, immigrants, refugees, the unemployed — raise to us their cry of suffering. They implore us, hoping to be heard."

The document follows the path laid down by Christ to His disciples. The person and message of Jesus Christ are, in fact, centred on the manifestation that "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8), a love which redeems humanity and saves it from a manifold misery in order to restore all men and women to their full dignity. Throughout the centuries, the Church has given many concrete expressions of this divine care. The history of the Church can be written as a history of love and charity towards the poorest of the poor, thanks to the many Christians who have given witness to their needy sisters and brothers thus showing Christ's love in laying down His life for all.

The study now published intends to give a further contribution to the commitment of Christians, that of sharing in the needs of all. The themes dealt with are very much of the present day, not only in describing the present situation in the world as far as hunger is concerned, but also the ethical implications of this problem which concerns all who are of good will. This publication is also important in view of the Great Jubilee of 2000, which the Church is preparing to celebrate. The spirit of this document is not based on any particular ideology; it is lead by the logic of the Gospel and extends an invitation to follow Jesus Christ in daily living.

It is my hope that this document will reach a large audience so that the conscience of many persons will become more sensitive to the exercise of distributive justice and human solidarity.

+ Angelo Card. Sodano
Secretary of State

Vatican City, 4 October 1996, Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

WORLD HUNGER
A CHALLENGE FOR ALL: DEVELOPMENT IN SOLIDARITY

"So widespread is the phenomenon that it brings into question the financial, monetary, production and commercial mechanisms that, resting on various political pressures, support the world economy. These are proving incapable either of remedying the unjust social situations inherited from the past or of dealing with the urgent challenges and ethical demands of the present. By submitting man to tensions created by himself, dilapidating at an accelerated pace material and energy resources, and compromising the geophysical environment, these structures unceasingly make the areas of misery spread, accompanied by anguish, frustration and bitterness..." "This difficult road of the indispensable transformation of the structures of economic life is one on which it will not be easy to go forward without the intervention of a true conversion of mind, will and heart. The task requires resolute commitment by individuals and peoples that are free and linked in solidarity".

(John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor hominis, 1979, No. 16).