A Universal Bond of Connection

For Christians, religion both motivates global efforts to improve the lives of others and provides the organic framework in which those improvements can occur in the most effective way.

In the early Church, Christians were distinguished by their charitable concern for the poor who lived in other parts of the world. Their care extended to those who were abandoned regardless of whether they were of the same race or creed.

The Catholic Church seeks to address global systemic challenges today through prayer, charitable outreach, legislative and diplomatic initiatives, community development and shared vision of the human person. The Pope is a practical source of unity by which these global efforts of the Church can be more effectively focused and directed in an organic way. Global ministries of health care, education, economic coops, migrant protection and so forth are social justice initiatives which necessarily spring from the principle of Integral Salvation.