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Pope Benedict to G8: Listen to the Voices of Developing Nations
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AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
On Saturday, July 4, Pope Benedict sent a pointed letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in advance of the upcoming meeting of the G8, scheduled to take place in the Italian city of L'Aquila from July 8-10.
According to Benedict’s letter, John Paul II "was convinced that freeing the poorest countries from the burden of debt and, more generally, eradicating the causes of extreme poverty in the world, depended on the most economically advanced governments and States fully assuming the responsibility they bear towards all humanity."
The letter goes on to say that, despite the millennium goal of eradicating extreme poverty in the world by 2015, "the financial and economic crisis that has struck the entire planet since the start of 2008 has altered the panorama, so that there is now a real risk not only that the hope of emerging from extreme poverty may be extinguished, but that people who until now benefited from some minimal material wellbeing risk falling into indigence."
Pope Benedict appeals to the G8 member states and to the governments of the world that “their aid for development, especially the part directed at 'evaluating' the 'human resource,' may be maintained and strengthened, and not just despite the crisis but precisely because this is one of the principle ways to solve it." Following the theme of lifting all of humanity from poverty, the Pontiff urges G8 leaders "to listen to the voice of Africa and of less economically developed countries."
Other issues touched upon in Benedict’s letter include the importance of access to education, which he calls "an indispensable condition for the working of democracy,” as well as peace, the creation of jobs, world security, health, and the “protection of the environment and of natural resources for present and future generations.”
Finally, Benedict notes the significance of the summit’s location, L’Aquila, the site of a recent earthquake. The pope indicates that the aid L'Aquila has received "could be seen as an invitation to the members of the G8 and to governments and peoples of the world to unite to face current challenges, which require humankind to make decisive choices concerning the very destiny of man, intimately connected with that of creation."
President Obama will be attending the G8 summit and will meet with Pope Benedict on July 10.
Source: V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
For a compelling exploration of the potential influence of the pope's encyclical, see Jeffrey Weiss' article, "Will Benedict XVI's New Encyclical Matter?" on Politics Daily.
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