Holy See speaks at UN on urgent moral responsibility to address poverty

Homeless sleeping on streets of London - one of the richest cities in the world. Image: ICN/JS

Source: Vatican Media

During the United Nations Security Council's Open Debate on Poverty, Underdevelopment, and Conflict in New York, the Holy See stressed the urgent moral responsibility to address the root causes of poverty, and reiterated concern regarding "the ever-growing military expenditure, which diverts significant resources from investments in development sectors such as healthcare, education and infrastructure."

Mgr Marco Formica, Chargé d'Affaires, of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, said this during the UN Security Council's Open Debate on Poverty, Underdevelopment, and Conflict: Implications for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security in New York on 23 June 2025.

Mgr Formica began by acknowledging that the open debate aims to draw attention to the "interconnected challenges" of poverty, underdevelopment, and conflict, observing that these realities, "which often fuel one another, pose serious obstacles" to the maintenance of international peace and security.

He recalled that in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the international community acknowledges that the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions is "the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, " and that "this shared commitment underscores the urgent moral responsibility to address the root causes of poverty, which are frequently associated with injustice, exclusion, and the denial of fundamental rights."

"This shared commitment underscores the urgent moral responsibility to address the root causes of poverty, which are frequently associated with injustice, exclusion, and the denial of fundamental rights"

Mgr Formica said: "the Holy See remains concerned about the ever-growing military expenditure, which diverts significant resources from investments in development sectors such as healthcare, education and infrastructure."

"In this context, the Holy See renews its proposal for the establishment of a global fund, partly financed by redirecting resources currently allocated to armaments." He noted the fund "could make a meaningful contribution to eradicating poverty and hunger, and to promoting development in the world's most disadvantaged regions," and would thereby "advance a more just and sustainable path towards peace, and protect and promote human dignity."

Mgr Formica concluded by underscoring that lasting peace "requires a commitment to integral human development, upholding the God-given dignity of every person and promoting the conditions necessary for justice, solidarity, and the flourishing of all," and reiterating that the Holy See "emphasises the importance of placing integral human development at the center of the ongoing review of the Peacebuilding Architecture," and of "promoting strengthened cooperation among Member States in the service of peace."