Pope supports church leaders’ engagement for the world’s poor in run-up to G8 summit
A group of prelates were received today by the pope as part of a catholic campaign to ensure that development remains high on the agenda of the G8 Summit in Germany this June. Pope Benedict XVI welcomed their engagement for the world’s poor and for social justice world-wide. The pope encouraged them to “continue campaigning for the welfare of all human beings all over the world”. Cardinal Rodriguez said, “The Pope urged the German Chancellor Merkel to put poverty at the heart of the 2007 G8 summit, and we welcome this initiative. We cannot accept that poor people perish every day because they lack shelter, basic medicines and safe drinking water. The world does have the means to eliminate poverty.”
Over 50.000 citizens across the world have supported the Make Aid Work campaign so far. Paul Chitnis, President of the catholic alliance CIDSE, said, “We do not only face global warming caused by climate change, we also face global warming caused by the growing anger of the dispossessed. G8 leaders have to be aware that our global situation needs urgent and adequate policy responses”. The delegation is part of the international campaign ‘Make Aid Work. The World Can’t Wait’, co-ordinated by CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis. The campaign calls on governments in rich and poor countries to ensure development aid makes a difference for the poor. Earlier this week, the delegation met UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, German President Horst Köhler and Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minster Romano Prodi of Italy.
In a statement, the delegation expressed their disappointment by the lack of progress on the part of the G8 countries. They said that they expect world leaders to assume responsibility for promoting human development and global solidarity. They explicitly called for continued efforts to resolve the longstanding crisis of sovereign debt in a sustainable and just way; for coordinated measures against corruption; and for promises to increase development aid to be kept.
