(July 6, 2009) Group of Eight leaders meeting in Italy this week to discuss the state
of the global economy should not forget about the world's poor, Pope Benedict said
in a letter released by the Vatican on Saturday. The pope said aid programmes,
particularly those for Africa, risked being cancelled or drastically reduced because
of the financial crisis, plunging even more people into poverty. "I appeal to G8 member
states ... to maintain and boost development aid, not in spite of the crisis but precisely
because this is one of the main solutions to it," he said in the letter, addressed
to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Leaders from the G8 countries, viz.
the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Canada, and
the main developing economies meet in the city of L'Aquila July 8-10. Italy has invited
40 countries and organisations, and on the final day of the summit, talks will be
broadened to include some African nations - a step which the pontiff said was a significant
progress. "It is necessary to consider carefully all issues, not just those put forward
by the most important or most economically successful countries ... Let's hear the
voice of Africa and of least developed nations," he said. The pope also said measures
to fight the global economic downturn should be ethical, focusing on job creation
and making credit available for households and firms while fighting market speculation.