Pope Benedict XVI Quotes

Peace does not fare well where poverty and deprivation reign

Poverty is curable, but it’s just not done, because it's not profitable. And that is the kind of violence that's perpetuated on humanity.

Poverty is not natural; it is man-made

The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.

There is no peace in poverty

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

The first world is going to have to account for this sort of horrible poverty in our midst. We have to, first of all, become aware of it. We have to take responsibility for it. And then we have to do something about it for our own freedom, for our own salvation, for our own humanity.

Poverty is not inevitable. It is a human ill that we can fight if we decide to do so together.

We believe that poverty does not belong in a civilized human society. It belongs in museums [...] A poverty-free world might not be perfect, but it would be the best approximation of the ideal.

Complaint is poverty.

Some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty, and poverty won.

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age.

The biggest fight in my life is not in boxing. The biggest fight in my life is how to end poverty in my country.

Poverty is unnecessary.

We have no right to luxuries while the poor want bread.

The conditions of suffering that exist today in our impoverished communities are not acceptable. The reflection of those conditions are less concerning to me. And I work everyday about changing the conditions.

I would like to solemnly reaffirm, that poverty is not a fatality.

Ridding the world of poverty is, of course, a fantasy.

Global poverty is a powder keg ignitable by our own indifference.

Put all other sufferings on one side of the scale, and poverty on the other, and poverty would be heavier.

The greatest evils and the worst of crimes is poverty; our first duty, a duty to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor.

We think of violence as being conflict and fighting and wars and so forth, but the most ongoing horrific measure of violence is in the horrible poverty of the Third World... and the poverty in the United States as well. We have our own Third World here. And we have to first become aware of that and how to help and solve that.

Poverty" Pitt exclaimed "is no disgrace but it is damned annoying." In the contemporary United States it is not annoying but it is a disgrace.

I didn’t create poverty. This church didn’t create poverty. Poverty is not an issue, human suffering is not an issue at all, they were there before the creation of mankind.

we're focusing too much energy on the symptom rather than the disease: Our real enemy is poverty, not welfare.