ON Monday, 29th August, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met Pope Francis and said among other things, they discussed the use of communication to alleviate poverty.

The 79-year-old Pontiff has brought freshness to the papacy, and is admired by Catholics and non-Catholics around the world for his stance on many social issues and matters pertaining to the Church, including his un-abashed approach to dealing with issues that some within his denomination find uncomfortable.

Where the Pope in his Apostolic Exhortation (Joy of the Gospel) challenged the Church to an ambitious goal to end hunger by 2025, the reach-out to Zuckerberg is indicative of a desire to lead the flock in achieving the goal, and which obviously is also informed by a sense of modern media savvy. Demonstrating a fierce knowledge of what spawns poverty and the anti-social spill-off of the poor, in his exhortation the Pope condemned the trickle-down theory and a financial system whereby money rules rather than serve, pointing out that “Money must serve, not rule!”
In examining the correlation between poverty and violence, he noted that “Until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples are reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression and conflict will find fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode. When a society –whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility.”
The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination with an estimated 1.1 billion adherents. A significant number of Catholics are from poor countries in Latin American and Africa. And where Francis, before moving to the Vatican, lived in Argentina, he would have had up-close interaction with poverty. Latin America has chronic poverty and one in five persons is considered poor, based on a 2015 report. But evidently the Pope’s interest in helping the poor goes beyond denominations.
According to the World Bank Review on Poverty (April 2016), recent estimates in 2012 have indicated that 12.7 percent of the world’s population lived at or below US$1.90 a day; though down from 37 percent in 1990 and 44 percent in 1981, the decline is unevenly spread across the regions and those living in extreme poverty still remain high. The bank has set a goal to reduce poverty by 2030. Social media in many instances have transformed the global media landscape and also played major roles in influencing support or action, one way or the other. In that Francis has two million likes on facebook and 9.75 twitter followers, evidenced his understanding and recognition of the power of the medium in reaching out and bringing about change.
Where some have used it to engage in unsavoury conduct, or have gotten into trouble with the content placed, by and large outside of it is being a medium to link up and stay connected with friends, has been a major venue and avenue for galvanising action. The average person owns a cellphone or has access to someone with, and with internet can have access to facebook or its content relayed via email, text messages, or other applications. And with the tools at one’s disposal, properly utilised that person can be a change agent.

Whilst communication plans consistent with the Pope’s vision on poverty alleviation are yet to be made known, no doubt given the global scope of facebook (1.71 billion active users per month), including its multilingual settings, international spotlight will be shed on the issue and galvanise action to bring about change.

In that Francis has exhorted that “Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society [and] this demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid,” he no doubt will be guided by said principle to improve the lives of the poor amongst us.

It is also reasonable to assume given the Pope’s teaching of oneness and his penchant for inclusivity across the socio-economic, cultural and political divides, synergies will be formed with institutions, groups and individuals not only in the sense of benevolence to deserving communities, but to also empower the poor to engage in acts of self-development.