A rich world and a vibrant economy can and should end poverty said Pope Francis on February 5th in an address at a Vatican conference on ‘New Forms of Solidarity’.

We have heard this before, from John Kennedy’s and Lyndon Johnson’s ‘war on poverty’, back to the great leveling impetus of socialism. The problem, of course, is that poverty can never be ‘ended’, not least since Christ declared that the poor we will always have with us. And there will always be forms of poverty in this world, spiritual, intellectual, moral as well as economic, which will always be re-defined relatively. Someone who is ‘poor’ in Canada is far richer than someone ‘poor’ in Liberia.

Call me a stickler for language, but I would much prefer to Pontiff to say we should alleviate, palliate or mitigate poverty, or perhaps the effects of poverty, and work to instill virtue in people, so that we may live in as much harmony as we might in this vale of tears.

The same conference also had Jeffrey Sachs – billionaire – attack the United States, as well as Donald Trump specifically by name, warning of the dangers of his re-election, with nary a word of dissent, but rather signs of approval amongst the episcopacy present. Sachs has exhorted Catholics – and everyone else – to have ‘no more than one or two children’. Keeping in mind that the minimum replacement rate for any population is at least 2.1 children per woman – prescinding from such vagaries as plagues and such – I suppose the extinction of the human race is one way to end poverty.

All this at a conference held at the Vatican. The sooner this farce ends, the better.

While on ending the human race, Quebec’s minister of health, a certain Danielle McCann, has called for easier and more widespread access to late-term abortions. In a province, may we remind the reader, with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, ensuring the extinction of Quebecers within a few generations. Hence, their desire to prop up their language and what is left of their ‘culture’ by draconian laws. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind, with Rachel weeping for her children, who would not be.

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