The Catholic News Service featured Jubilee USA's work on moving debt relief for poor countries as a response to COVID-19 and the global recession as part of an article on Cardinal Tagle's call for debt relief. Crux, Catholic San Francisco and thousands of other news outlets included Eric's comments in their stories. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Declare a jubilee: Pandemic is time to forgive debts, cardinal suggests
Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a multireligious group that advocates for foreign debt relief for the world’s poorest countries, told Catholic News Service the network is urging the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and wealthy countries “to suspend debt payments for poor countries so they can bolster healthcare; offer a process for debt to be eliminated for developing countries; make it easier for all countries to restructure their debt; and provide aid and financing to all countries so they can survive the growing health and economic crisis.”
The world’s poorest countries “need total relief now so they can bolster health care and survive the economic crisis” that is being created by the coronavirus pandemic and will “likely be the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression,” he said.
LeCompte urged Catholics to lobby their governments “to ensure there are stimulus packages that protect the most vulnerable and ensure that workers continue to get paychecks” and to “support Catholic Charities, Caritas and Catholic Relief Services as they are the first line of defense as the economic crisis worsens.”
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