Act now

Poverty is “multidimensional”; it shows different causes and aspects (from person to person, from country to country…) and thus requires a variety of different responses, though all in the name of justice, solidarity and social participation. Caritas Europe is playing its part in 2010, the year dedicated by the EU to combating poverty and social exclusion. It is launching an awareness-raising campaign, urging Europe to “act now”, and sponsoring a study on poverty in the old continent. Campaign, website, people’s petition. “Poverty is unacceptable in the twenty-first century”: that’s the central message that Caritas Europe launched in the European Parliament on 27 January, in presenting its “Zero Poverty” campaign. As well as the campaign itself, the President of Caritas Europe, Erny Gillen, described a study on poverty and marginality (Poverty Paper), and the various proposals for mobilization made in response to it, some on the cultural level, others of an educational, social and political character. A people’s petition has also been launched, with the aim of collecting a million signatures to pressure the EU institutions, member states, regional and local institutions to pursue four priority objectives: “Eradicate child poverty in Europe; guarantee a minimum level of social protection for everyone; increase the provision of social and healthcare services; and guarantee decent jobs” to those living in Europe. The speakers at the meeting to launch the Caritas Europe campaign in Brussels included Gillen himself, MEP Elisabeth Schroedter (vice chairman of the employment and social affairs committee), and some other MEPs. Then Paolo Pezzana and Patrizia Cappelletti, of Italian Caritas, described the Poverty Paper (the campaign materials are available on the website www.zeropoverty.org).“Open your eyes, open your ears…”. Gillen urged those present to undertake an “unusual journey”, in the discovery of some basic features of the reality that surrounds us: “Open your eyes and look at poverty. Open your ears and listen to the voices of poor people…”. The President of Caritas Europe emphasized that poverty and exclusion “still persist in our continent today”. And he added: “Poverty is a scandal” and requires heightened awareness, study and targeted interventions. “Zero Poverty is not a request, it is a necessity”, declared Gillen. Paolo Pezzana and Patrizia Cappelletti, outlining the document produced by Caritas Europe with the contribution of 48 affiliated organizations in 44 nations, proposed an analysis of the situation, and some keys for interpretation and intervention in conformity with the guiding principles of “justice and solidarity”.Labour market, family, welfare state. “In Europe, Caritas wishes to contribute to a new way of looking at poverty. Poverty, in fact, is far more than the lack of prosperity: it weakens the person in body, spirit and existence. It weakens the community in which that person lives”. “As community of human beings, we cannot permit ourselves to lose anyone. We must put right the conditions of inequality inherited from the past and prevent new forms of injustice for present and future generations”. “Poverty and social exclusion – says the Poverty Paper – are the consequence of a dysfunction of the three sources of the social system of welfare (labour market, family and welfare state) caused by the transformation of society. These three mainstays must therefore be enabled once again to fully play their role”. Moreover, “the best way to combat poverty” and the “best way to prevent” and alleviate its effects “is social participation”.Calendar of events in 2010. “Zero poverty” – insisted Gillen – is “our moral imperative: Caritas considers that our societies have a need for a new framework of reference in which human rights are recognized and safeguarded not as a mere legal requirement, but because the dignity of the human person, source and goal of all rights and duties, is recognized”. In the course of 2010 Caritas Europe will realize numerous initiatives aimed at “active inclusion”. Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to a hostel for the homeless run by Caritas in Rome, on 14 February, is considered the event of greatest visibility, a powerful signal to Christians and to European public opinion. An international conference on poverty in Europe will be held in Madrid on 4-5 June. Various themed seminars (on welfare state, migrants, Romany communities, child poverty, relation between poverty and physical health, study and work) are to be held between late spring and summer. The international “Stand Up” Day will be held on 17 October, while in December Caritas Europe plans to return to the European Parliament to deliver the signatures to its petition.