VATICAN CITY – Saturday, Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met at the Vatican, agreeing on the need to dedicate special attention to the responsibility of the international community in addressing issues of poverty and hunger.

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John of the Cross teaches that within spirituality and morality there are no exempt areas. Simply put, you cannot be a saint or a highly moral person if you allow yourself a moral exemption or two.

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Given the chance to tell politicians from Ottawa about poverty, Sr. Sue Mosteller didn’t want to argue about economics.

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VATICAN CITY – People cannot sit back and be indifferent or unresponsive to growing poverty in the world as a privileged minority accumulates "ostentatious wealth," Pope Francis said.

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ABUJA, Nigeria – At a recent meeting, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria gave a bleak summary of the state of their country, lamenting humanitarian crises including violence at the hands of Boko Haram and other extremist groups, poverty, government corruption, and a lack of respect for human rights or dignity.

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The concept of a guaranteed basic income for the poor has been around at least since St. Thomas More pondered the topic 500 years ago in the court of Henry VIII. Napoleon apparently liked the idea. U.S. founding father Thomas Paine was an active proponent after the American Revolution. Even disgraced president Richard Nixon floated its potential as a means to tackle poverty.

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UNITED NATIONS – Saying poverty is the greatest challenge facing humanity, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations called on nations to seek solutions to poverty not only based on economics but to also address personal, social and environmental factors that contribute to it.

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If the economy leaves 1.3 million Canadian children living in poverty, is the economy really working?

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Every armchair economist in the country wonders how a country so rich can have so many people who are poor.

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WASHINGTON – America has 46.7 million people living in poverty, but there's been little talk on the presidential campaign trail about the needs of poor people.

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CALCUTTA, India – A favourite motto of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was: “Do small things with great love.”

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JAMA, Ecuador – Ask Jose Santos about the earthquake that struck the northern coast of Ecuador in April and he paints a vivid picture.

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VATICAN CITY – How Christians treat the poor is the clearest demonstration of their relationship with God, Pope Francis insisted.

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MEXICO CITY – A Catholic bishop in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero has called for compassion toward the impoverished populations harvesting opium poppies out of necessity, saying such people are not sinners and are neglected by the government.

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VATICAN CITY – An economic vision geared solely toward profit and material well-being has led to an economy of exclusion and inequality that has increased poverty and the number of people discarded "as unproductive and useless," Pope Francis said. 

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