Any time of year is a good time to discuss poverty but the subject has obvious resonance at Christmas. Thus, unsurprisingly, Pope Francis recently wrote about the necessity of compassion for those on the margins.
In Evangelii Gaudium, the Pontiff covers much ground. He urges deliberate, thoughtful action for the world's poor and warns against the folly of loving money and worshipping consumer goods. These are calls with which no thinking, compassionate person should disagree.
The poor will always be with you, remarked a certain carpenter from Nazareth about two millennia ago, and whose life is remembered this time of year and at Christmas. That statement has long been truethe reasons for poverty are legion, and thus an absolute end to poverty is likely beyond the grasp of imperfect human beings. But that doesnt mean most poverty cannot be reduced nor its pernicious effects alleviated.
In fact, tremendous progress has been made in reducing poverty worldwide, including in the past two hundred years in particular.
