Washington DC - This week marks the five-year anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Eric LeCompte is the Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA and he advises the Vatican and Catholic Church on economic and development issues. LeCompte releases the following statement celebrating five years of Pope Francis:

"As we celebrate the five-year anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, we celebrate how powerfully he expresses the plight of the poor.

"The Catholic Church has always called for our global economy to serve and protect the poor. As Pope, Francis has also spoken about how particular aspects of the financial system need to change to protect the poor. Francis endorsed a global bankruptcy process to stop financial crisis and prevent predatory hedge funds from taking advantage of poor countries. He raises concern about the impacts of tax havens, tax evasion, trade policies and corruption on vulnerable communities.

"Pope Francis speaks so specifically on the impacts of economic issues because he and his people in Argentina really felt the impacts. He led his people, when he was head of the Argentina Church, as the country wrestled with austerity policies and a debt crisis fueled by corruption and predatory hedge funds taking advantage of that crisis."