Bishops urge G-8 leaders to remember poor, address climate change

(June 25, 2009) Catholic bishops in the Group of Eight industrialized countries have urged their nations' leaders to remember the poor and address the issue of global climate change during the upcoming G-8 summit. Leaders from eight of the globe's wealthiest countries, including President Barack Obama of the United States, will convene in Italy July 8-10. The Catholic leaders, who head the bishops' conferences in their respective countries, made the request in a June 22 letter. Their plea was similar to an entreaty from Pope Benedict XVI to Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown in preparation for the Group of 20 meeting April 2 in London. "Development aid, including the commercial and financial conditions favourable to less developed countries and the cancellation of the external debt of the poorest and most indebted countries, has not been the cause of the crisis and, out of fundamental justice, must not be its victim," the pope wrote to Brown. With the G-8 summit approaching, the heads of the Catholic bishops' conferences seemed to continue the pope's efforts. They reminded government leaders of one of the main priorities of the Catholic Church: to protect human life and dignity.