Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty and Catholic Social Teaching

This episode brings together two news stories related to eradicating poverty, stories that didn't get a lot of attention but stories that have profound and practical significance for our lives as followers of Christ.

Here are references and notes:

1. Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth presented to the UN Human Rights Council June 25, 2026
2. Opinion Piece originally published in The Guardian June 10, 2026
3. Pope Leo in 'Dilexi te': Faith cannot be separated from love for the poor - Oct 2025
4. Summary of Dilexi te from CAPP-USA
5. Dilexi te full text in English
6. Summary of the Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth from The Tablet, UK Catholic magazine
7. Caritas Europe on why the Roadmap is a key milestone - April 22, 2026
8. The European Laudato Si’ Alliance welcomes the newly launched Roadmap for eradicating poverty beyond growth - April 22, 2026
9. Maryknoll Missionaries Office of Global Concerns Action Alert Regarding the Roadmap - June 23, 2026
10. Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations - Call for the eradication of poverty - July 8, 2026
11. Country Overshoot Days 2026 - Marking the date when the planet’s annual biocapacity budget would be used up if everyone on Earth consumed as much as the residents of that particular country.
12. Learning to Live Simply - September 7, 2023
13. Guide to Minimalism as a Catholic
14. Podcast website with full transcripts for this episode and all other episodes

Transcript

Welcome to “Headline News and Catholic Social Teaching,” where we take a brief look at stories in the news, not from a left or right political perspective, but through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching.  I’m your host, Tom Mulhern, and I hope that this podcast will help us grow in our love of God and love of our neighbors.

This episode brings together two news stories related to eradicating poverty, stories that didn't get a lot of attention but stories that have profound and practical significance for our lives as followers of Christ.

The first story is the recent release of a set of proposals called "A Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth."  This was presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 25, 2026, by Olivier De Schutter, former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.  

The Roadmap points out that the conventional reliance on economic growth to create prosperity, lift all boats and trickle down to those in need has failed to reach those living in extreme poverty.  It also notes that the over-emphasis on growth contributes to widespread environmental destruction and social injustice.  As an alternative, the Roadmap puts forward specific policy measures for building a global economy that places human rights, ecological justice, and participatory governance at its center.

The Roadmap was developed with contributions from trade unions, nonprofits, UN agencies, academics, policymakers, and civil society groups around the world.  There are links in the notes with more details about the specific proposals included in the Roadmap.

Now, those of us old enough to remember E.F. Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful" and Herman Daly's "Steady-State Economics" know that for several decades there have been wise but mostly ignored people pointing out that endless economic growth is both unsustainable and unjust, and offering alternatives.  What seems different about the "Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth" is that it is coming out of mainstream United Nations organizations.

As such, it could  be part of an historic shift in the international community away from growth and toward economic systems grounded in human rights, well-being and ecological responsibility.  Time will tell.

The other related news story took place in October 2025, when Pope Leo the 14th released his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te, or "I have loved you,"  in which he describes the love of Christ incarnated in love for the poor.

Pope Leo welcomes the fact that “the United Nations has made the eradication of poverty one of its Millennium Goals," but he points out that there is a long way to go, especially in an era in which what he calls the “dictatorship of an economy that kills” continues to prevail; the wealth of the few continues to grow “exponentially” while the gap between rich and poor increases; and “ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation” remain widespread.

The Pope also rejects “pseudo-scientific data” used to support the claim “that a free-market economy will automatically solve the problem of poverty.

Pope Leo laments that many of us suffer from, and I'm quoting here, “the illusion of happiness derived from a comfortable life that pushes many people towards a vision of life centred on the accumulation of wealth and social success at all costs, even at the expense of others and by taking advantage of unjust social ideals and political-economic systems that favour the strongest."

In addition to individual acts of mercy, the exhortation calls for a profound change in mentality to confront what it calls the “structures of sin” that create and perpetuate poverty. It also notes that the poor are not passive recipients of aid but active agents of evangelization and renewal, possessing a wisdom capable of converting the Church and society. 

So, Dilexi Te is an urgent call to conversion and action with respect to poverty.  It reaffirms the value of almsgiving and personal encounter while insisting on the need for structural change. 

And that's the connection between these news stories.  The Roadmap … offers concrete proposals aimed at achieving the kind of structural change called for by Pope Leo in Dilexi Te.  This includes proposals to establish the universal right to the basic necessities of life, measures to address the growing gap between rich and poor, and a lot more.

Looking at the problem of extreme poverty from two very different perspectives – one from secular humanism and the other from the Catholic faith – both the Roadmap and Dilexi Te call for a fundamental change in the way we approach the eradication of poverty.

This doesn't mean that the Roadmap proposals are the final word on eradicating poverty.  Far from it.  But they do represent a comprehensive framework for discussion and action, and they offer a credible alternative to the prevailing emphasis on narrowly-defined economic growth.  

A number of Catholic-related organizations have endorsed the Roadmap, including Caritas International, Caritas Europe, and the European Laudato Si' Alliance.  I learned about the Roadmap through a message from the US Maryknoll Missionaries Office of Global Concerns, urging action in support of the Roadmap.

And a statement submitted to the United Nations on July 8, 2026, by Msgr. Marco Formica of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN, referenced Pope Leo's Dilexi Te in calling for the eradication of poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

So, in Dilexi Te, Pope Leo calls each of us to show our love for the poor through both almsgiving (that is, personal acts of charity) and by working for justice.  With respect to almsgiving, he states that:

Whatever form it may take, almsgiving will touch and soften our hardened hearts. It will not solve the problem of world poverty, yet it must still be carried out, with intelligence, diligence and social responsibility.

And here are Pope Leo's final words to us in Dilexi Te:

Through your work, your efforts to change unjust social structures or your simple, heartfelt gesture of closeness and support, the poor will come to realize that Jesus’ words are addressed personally to each of them: “I have loved you” (Book of Revelation Chapter 3 verse 9).

Now, I want to close with a thought about one way we can work to change unjust economic structures by the way we conduct our everyday lives.  Many of us – and I'm pointing the finger at myself here – many of us consume material resources at a level that is fueled by the endless growth economy, and it's easy to be indifferent to the fact that it would be disastrous for humanity and for the planet if everyone in the world consumed as much and threw away as much as we do.  

As uncomfortable as it is to do so, we can acknowledge that, by our consumption and waste, we are supporting and benefiting from economic structures that at the very least are failing to help people get out of extreme poverty.

While we advocate for the big changes needed to build an economy beyond growth, we can also take steps right now to spend less and waste less in our personal lives and choices, striving to get closer to a level of material consumption that could be enjoyed by everyone in the world, while at the same time freeing up more of our resources for almsgiving and works of charity. I've included some interesting links in the notes.

To serve as our guide, there is a very long Christian tradition of voluntary poverty and simple living, an approach to life that has been demonstrated by Jesus Christ and many of the saints, an approach that can help us grow in our love of God and love of our neighbors, in particular our neighbors who live in extreme poverty.

Something for each of us to think about, pray about, and do something about.

Well, that's all for this episode of “Headline News and Catholic Social Teaching.”  If you found it worthwhile, I invite you to share it with others.  If you’d like to make a comment or send me a message or pose a question, there’s a link in the notes to do so.

And I hope and pray that, in some small way, this episode might help us live our lives guided by the Holy Spirit through the teachings of the Church.  

Thank you for listening.