Skip to content
Daily Theology
  • Listen
  • Write
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Search
Economics, Environment, Justice, Kingdom of God, Pope, Pope Francis, Social Justice
by Marc V. RuganiMay 4, 201312:01 amJuly 18, 2013

Happy Are the Poor. (Yes. Really.)

Just days after his election the Cardinal-Formerly-Known-As-Bergoglio commented that he made the unprecedented choice of “Francis” for his papal name because he was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, whom he calls “the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation.”   He then went on further to comment, “How I would like a church that is poor and for the poor.”  I think that most people can get with the idea of a church that is for the poor; but that the pope would make it a goal to be poor?  Really poor?  Really?

Endless ink is spilt and dollars spent on international social and economic development programs precisely to eliminate the poverty and improve the condition of the poor of the world.  Benedict XVI’s last encyclical Caritas in Veritate makes development its explicit topic.  Jesus may have said, as is written in Luke 6:20, “Happy are the poor”; but in development literature, the poor are not happy.  Countries with low measures of GDP per capita also are likely to face high mortality and morbidity rates, poor measures of effective governance, low educational outcomes, and social instability.  The path to happiness, one would think according to the literature, must be paved with gold, steel, and concrete, following a “no-holds-barred” approach to rapid GDP growth at all costs.  Only then do the poor have a chance to be happy.

Or do they?  According to two alternative studies, the World Happiness Report and the Happy Planet Index, the prevailing understanding and approach to development is shifting—shifting toward what Catholic Social Teaching has called “integral human development.”  Going beyond pure quantitative metrics, these studies seeks a comprehensive view that incorporates qualitative evaluations of well-being for those in each country.  The results of the first of these two studies are not very surprising.  The World Happiness Report uses data collected from sources like the Gallup World Poll and World Values Survey, and in most rankings the usual suspects of happiest nations (Nordics, Northern European, Canada, and the Antipodes) still round out the top 10.  Costa Rica makes a surprising cameo in the echelons of some rankings, but is middling at best in others.

The Happy Planet Index, on the other hand, simplifies its metrics for clarity, even if losing some nuance.  But what it gains is a different and elegant emphasis on the importance of the ecological preservation and sustainability vis-à-vis development.   Using clear, widely accepted measures of data in a new way, one can see surprising results.

HappyPlanetIndexFormula

The Happy Planet uses the Gallup World Poll Data, much of the same as presented in the World Happiness Report, and then multiplies it by the UN’s Human Development Data on life expectancy.  It then divides that product by the World Wildlife Federation’s “Ecological Footprint” score to yield its measure of gross national happiness.  In the Happy Planet Index the top 10 in descending order are: Costa Rica, Vietnam, Colombia, Belize, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Guatemala.

HappyPlanetMap

Where are the “usual suspects” of the North now?  When environmental factors are weighted against the subjective scores of the Gallup Poll and the objective UN data, we are presented with a new perspective on what sustainable development looks like and what happiness is.  One might wonder, what would St. Francis think about this measure?  What does Pope Francis think of it?

Clearly there are still significant obstacles to happiness even in the happiest countries of the Happy Planet Index.  Every one of the nations listed in the top 10 has faced challenges such as political instability, violence, and drug trafficking.  A great many persons live below the UN’s measure for absolute poverty, living on less than $2/day without access to basic human services.  At the same time, their subjective experience of life and welfare is factored into this measure, as are the brutal statistics of life and death; yet these still come out on top.  Why?

It may be that money can’t buy happiness.  In the absence of the distractions and false promises of “more,” people tend to invest in relationships more.  In the World Happiness Report the study found, “At a given level of income, people who cared more about their income were less happy with life overall, with their family life, with their friendships and with their job. Of course people who care more about money also tend to earn more, and this helps to offset the negative effect of materialism. But in this study a person considering high income essential would need twice as much income to be as happy as someone considering high income unimportant.”  Materialism warps values and goals.  Poverty brings the essential elements of integral human development into high relief.  Moreover, the same study found that there are “many other studies linking green spaces to better health, performance, and life satisfaction.”  Poverty and the environment seem to be at the heart of happiness.

At the same time we cannot forget the prophetic work of Gustavo Gutierrez, who reminds us that material poverty is “a scandalous condition.”  We cannot be seduced into idealizing “the Church of the poor” lest it come off as paternalistic towards our brothers and sisters living in so-called developing countries.  We are all living in countries in need of integral human development.  What we ought to seek as a church of the poor is spiritual poverty, “an attitude of openness to God and spiritual childhood,” and “poverty as a commitment of solidarity and protest.”

The Pope of Peace, Poverty, and the Planet, or P4, said at his mass of installation, “Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world!”  We must take the words of Jesus and those of top-tier of the Happy Planet Index seriously.  Happy are the poor.  They experience well-being, objectively live long, healthy lives, and they live in and leave a good earth for their children and their children’s children.

Happy are the poor?  Yes.  Really.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Tagged with: Catholic Social Teaching Church Environmental Ethics Integral Human Development Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Society

Marc V. Rugani

All posts

is a PhD candidate in moral theology and ethics at the Catholic University of America. He is currently an adjunct faculty at CUA and Georgetown University and also has worked in the religion department at Xavier High School in New York City, teaching courses in theological ethics, Catholic Social Teaching, and inter-religious dialogue. He holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from the University of Notre Dame and volunteered at the Farm of the Child in Trujillo, Honduras. In his spare time he climbs mountains, skis down them, and rambles passionately on virtue, human rights, and economic development.

1Comment

Add yours
  1. 1
    Theological Shark Week IV: “Pope Francis, Theology, and the Church of the Poor” | Daily Theology on May 4, 2013 at 11:41 pm
    Reply

    […] Johnson Wednesday: Heather DuBois and Michael Rubbelke Thursday: Stephen Okey Friday: Brad Rothrock Saturday: Marc Rugani Sunday: Kevin […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Advertisements

Recent Posts

  • Invitation to an Antifascist Reading Space January 15, 2021
  • Beyond Kendi: Antiracism and Non-White Sovereignty in the US Political Economy October 30, 2020
  • Sinful and Holy: The Human Nature of the Church October 29, 2020
  • To Jesuits, Black Americans were Objects of Ministry, Not Agents Of their Own Faith October 28, 2020
Advertisements

Archive

Advertisements

Follow DT on Twitter

My Tweets
Advertisements

Like us on Facebook!

Like us on Facebook!
Advertisements

Tags

Advent Anti-Racism Catholic Catholic Church Catholicism Catholic Social Teaching Christianity Christmas Church College Theology Society discipleship faith Holy Spirit Hope Jesuits Jesus Jesus Christ Lent liberation theology love Mercy Oscar Romero podcast podcast season 1 Pope Francis Prayer racism Saint Leo University Saints spirituality Stephen Okey Stephen Okey Podcast Episode Theological Shark Week theology theology and culture
Advertisements

Authors

  • Amanda Osheim
  • Alexandria Griffin
  • Benjamin Durheim
  • Brian Flanagan
  • B. Kevin Brown
  • Brianne Jacobs
  • erik martin
  • Catherine R. Osborne
  • Christine E. McCarthy
  • Leo Guardado
  • Kelly L. Schmidt & Billy Critchley-Menor, S.J.
  • The Editors
  • Guest Post
  • DT Podcast
  • Dave de la Fuente
  • Dannis Matteson
  • Heather M. DuBois
  • Gunnar B. Gundersen
  • John DeCostanza
  • Jessica Wrobleski
  • Kevin M Johnson
  • John P. Slattery
  • Katharine Mahon
  • Katherine Wrisley Shelby
  • Kathleen Bellow
  • Br. Ken Homan, SJ
  • Kevin Ahern
  • Katherine A. Greiner
  • Krista Stevens
  • Andrew Staron
  • Lorraine Cuddeback-Gedeon
  • Marjorie Corbman
  • Michael L. Avery
  • Marcus Mescher
  • Michael Rubbelke
  • Meg Stapleton Smith
  • Katie O'Neill
  • Paul Louis Metzger
  • Stephen Okey
Advertisements
Advertisements

Categories

Advent Catholicism Catholic Social Teaching Christian Life Church Community Conversation Conversion Current Events Discipleship Doing Theology Ethics and Moral Theology Faith Guest Post Jesus Christ Justice Lent Mercy Podcast Politics Pop Culture Pope Francis Racism Saints Shark Week Social Justice Solidarity Spirituality Theology and Culture Vatican
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements

Tags

#Laudato Si Advent Anti-Racism Catholic Catholic Church Catholic Higher Education Catholicism Catholic Social Teaching Christianity Christmas Church College Theology Society Community conversation dialogue discipleship education Ethics Eucharist faith Forgiveness grace Higher Education Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Incarnation Jesuits Jesus Jesus Christ John DeCostanza John Paul II Kevin Ahern Lent liberation theology Liturgy love Martin Luther King Mary Media Mercy Ministry Oscar Romero peace Pentecost podcast podcast season 1 podcast season 2 Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Prayer Public Theology Race racism resurrection Saint Leo University Saints scripture Shark Week social justice spirituality Stephen Okey Stephen Okey Podcast Episode Teaching Teaching Theology Theological Shark Week theology theology and culture Thomas Merton Vacation Bible School Vatican Vatican II vocation war white supremacy
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Website Built with WordPress.com.
Footer navigation
  • About Us
  • Theological Shark Weeks
  • DT Podcast
  • Who We Are

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Follow Following
    • Daily Theology
    • Join 12,305 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Daily Theology
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d bloggers like this: