Holy See says efforts to tide over economic crisis should not sacrifice aid to poor
countries
(October 23, 2009) The current global economic crisis and recession has led to a
sharp worsening of poverty in a world already haunted by intolerable misery, and efforts
to tide over this crisis must not sacrifice aid to the least developed countries.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See at the United Nations,
made the point on Thursday at a U.N. General Assembly session on eradication of poverty
and other development issues. He pointed out that the number of poor who are bearing
the brunt of the crisis has skyrocketed. “Even if an economic recovery is imminent,
for those who remain jobless the crisis is not over and its social and human costs
persist,” Archbishop Migliore said. He called for a qualitative change in the management
of international affairs, pointing out that the amount necessary to fulfil official
development assistance commitments is drastically smaller than that allocated to restore
the global financial sector. To delay the necessary developmental assistance reaffirms
the moral roots of the crisis - the lack of solidarity and responsibility for long-term
effects of economic measures. Only a constant and sustained investment in all women
and men will ensure the minimum economic and political stability needed for the universal
common good, Archbishop Migliore added.