millennium to raise people out of extreme poverty. i know that you share my conviction that much more still needs to be done and in times of economic hardship has plenty of global solidarity must not be lost. >> the pope also implored congress to fight tirelessly against the cycle of poverty defined in economic terms as the phenomenon in which poor families become trapped in poverty for at least three generations. >> i would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. they, too, need to be given hope.