Washington DC –  Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected head of the Catholic Church and takes the name Pope Leo XIV, on Thursday, May 8th.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network, who advises Vatican and Catholic Church leadership, releases the following statement:

"Cardinal Prevost is a strong voice for the Catholic Church's social mission to address poverty.

"As Prevost takes the name Leo XIV, he will follow the path that Francis set to build a more inclusive and transparent Church.

"The selection of the name of Leo XIV is a special acknowledgement of the need to support the poor and workers. 

"Leo XIII, the previous Pope Leo, was the author of the Encyclical Rerum Novarum which became the Church's primary teaching on the rights of workers and those who struggle for a better life and to live in dignity.

"The new Pope has a strong sense of how important the global Church is to address global challenges.

"Coming from the Augustinian religious order, Leo XIV will bring a commitment to building a world where we all have enough.

"Pope Francis followed previous Popes in establishing debt relief to address poverty as a key focus for the Church's Jubilee holy year that's taking place this year. Pope Leo XIV will continue that focus for this holy year."

Pope Francis Remembered During Meetings

Washington DC – IMF, World Bank, G20 and G7 Spring meetings concluded this past weekend.

The IMF announced an almost one percentage point cut to economic growth for the next two years while warning future forecasts could see more growth cuts.

"These meetings were full of bad news for the economy,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network and who monitors the IMF and World Bank. "The analysis from these meetings is the most troubling we've seen in decades.”

While developing countries pay $1.4 trillion annually servicing debt, payments of the poorest countries quadrupled in the last 10 years. According to the IMF, average incomes in the poorest 32 of those countries have barely changed in the last 15 years.

“Trade issues, aid cuts and high interest rates are increasing debt problems and crises,” added LeCompte. “Little was done at the meetings to address severe challenges for the global economy."

In statements delivered during the meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put to rest fears that the US would disengage from the IMF and World Bank.

"Bessent made many positive contributions to thie meetings,” stated LeCompte. “One of Bessent's most important statements was that the US wants to tackle global debt problems before they become crises."

As the meetings opened last week, on April 21st, Pope Francis passed away. Francis had called for debt relief to be a focus of the holy year of Jubilee 2025.

"Pope Francis was remembered at almost every gathering of world leaders throughout the week,” shared LeCompte. "We can honor the memory of Pope Francis by moving forward his calls for debt relief and creating new processes to address debt crises."

The IMF and World Bank hold their second meeting of the year in October. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the election of Pope Leo XIV here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF, World Bank, G20 and US Treasury Meetings and IMFC and Development Committee Meetings here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on Pope Francis' funeral, legacy and upcoming conclave here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on Pope Francis' views of IMF, World Bank and G20 Spring Meetings here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the G20 ministerial meeting here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF Global Financial Stability Report and World Economic Outlook report here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF Global Financial Stability Report here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF World Economic Outlook report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain-raiser speech here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the passing of Pope Francis who had focused this year's Church efforts on debt relief and IMF reform here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was quoted in Reuters, where he spoke on the debt discussions had during the recent IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. Read an excerpt below, or the full article here.

IMF-World Bank meetings end with little tariff clarity, but economic foreboding

By David Lawder, Karin Strohecker and Andrea Shalal

"Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, a faith-based nonprofit group advocating debt relief, said that the IMF's forecasts were clearly aimed at preventing market panic, even as officials in private meetings expressed concerns about new debt crises emerging.

"It was a do-nothing kind of week," LeCompte said, adding that debt discussions were inconclusive and overshadowed by tariff talks."

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was interviewed by KPFA Radio to speak about the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings and release of the IMF World Economic Outlook report and Global Financial Stability Report. Listen here (7:30-11:53).

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in The Policy with Leah, with Nigeria's Saban Media during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. Listen and watch here (22:00-24:35).

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently interviewed by The Times Radio in London, ahead of Pope Francis' funeral. LeCompte speaks on Pope Francis' leadership, dedication to poverty alleviation and enduring legacy for debt relief during the Jubilee year. Listen here (1:35:32 - 1:42:50).

Washington DC – The IMF and World Bank conclude their Spring Meetings. On Thursday, the IMF and World Bank's Development Committee met and the International Monetary Financial Committee (IMFC) met on Friday. These committees are major leadership and policy making bodies for the IMF and World Bank.

Washington DC – The funeral of Pope Francis is slated for 10:00 AM Rome time on Saturday, April 26th. Vatican experts expect the conclave or election process of the next Pope to begin on May 6th.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network, who advises Vatican and Catholic Church leadership, releases the following statement:

"Pope Francis decided that his funeral should be simpler than the past funerals of Popes.

"Francis wants us to remember him as someone who lived by example as an advocate of the poor and our planet.

"His legacy is embodied in the sacred messages of the Jubilee Year to set captives free and use debt relief to end poverty and protect the environment.

"When ever I was with Francis, he was laughing and telling jokes. He teaches us to try to confront life's greatest challenges with joy and love.

"I believe Francis to be the greatest and most popular world leader of our time.

"We should have a new Pope by May 10th.

"We will have a new Pope that shares the vision of Pope Francis.

"Pope Francis was the first Pope who was everyone's Pope. He was a Pope claimed by all faiths and those who felt alienated by faith."

Read Jubilee USA's statement on Pope Francis' views of IMF, World Bank and G20 spring meetings here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the passing of Pope Francis who had focused this year's Church efforts on debt relief and IMF reform here.

Read the letter to President Trump from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Jubilee USA Network on following Pope Francis' Jubilee 2025 focus here.

Read Pope Francis' June Jubilee 2025 debt focus speech here.

Learn about the global Jubilee interfaith launches and December Holy See launch for Pope Francis' Jubilee 2025 call here.

Washington DC – Saturday marks the end of the Spring Meetings, where world leaders gathered as part of the IMF, World Bank and G20 meetings. Pope Francis was remembered at this week's meetings as he commented continually on global economic policies.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network who advises Vatican and Catholic Church leadership and monitors IMF and G20 meetings, releases the following statement:

"Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the greatest world leaders of our time.

"As we remember Francis, we know that he devoted his papacy to creating an economy that includes all of us and protects our planet.

"Francis was critical of IMF policies and called for major reforms of the financial system that would serve the poor, address inequality and protect the environment.

"Pope Francis dedicated this sacred year of the Church, Jubilee 2025, to debt relief and reforms of the IMF and the global economy.

"Reforming the IMF is part of key Catholic teaching that was also lifted by Popes John Paul II and Benedict.

"At the G20, IMF and World Bank meetings, the Pope's memory was celebrated at almost every gathering.

"The most important way to honor Pope Francis is for world leaders to implement his calls for debt relief and new processes that address poverty and debt in the financial system."

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the G20 ministerial meeting here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF Global Financial Stability Report here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF World Economic Outlook report here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain-raiser speech here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the passing of Pope Francis who had focused this year's Church efforts on debt relief and IMF reform here.

Read the letter to President Trump from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Jubilee USA Network on following Pope Francis' Jubilee 2025 focus here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in America Magazine where he spoke on Pope Francis' legacy and commitment to tackling debt and financial inequalities through debt relief. Read an excerpt below, or the full article here.

The global impact of Pope Francis: From migration to taxes to A.I. weapons

By: Kevin Clarke

"Eric LeCompte is the executive director of Jubilee USA Network, a global debt relief advocacy group. The pope’s predecessors, St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, he said, shared many of his views “regarding inequality, tax and debt and how those issues impact the poor.” But Pope Francis was able to shine a light on these issues as few world leaders have been able to, he said.

What distinguished Francis was his poignant, personal experience with the issues of poverty and debt justice. As a younger man, Francis witnessed the powerful effects of financial and debt crises on the most vulnerable in Argentina during his years as a Jesuit priest and later as archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Pope Francis, Mr. LeCompte said, “saw directly how the impacts of unfair financial policies make poverty worse and create more difficult global challenges.”

Pope Francis unabashedly talked about the injustice of tax evasion, tax fraud and tax avoidance, acts which in the end mean that in a world of wealth and abundance, “we don’t have the resources to deal with poverty.”

Mr. LeCompte recalled that the first set of credentials for new ambassadors Francis accepted as his pontificate began included those from three nations that have acted as tax havens for the wealthy. The pope did not miss the opportunity to lift up the moral component of such avoidance structures and the practical social and humanitarian problems they contribute to, pointing out that hiding wealth from taxation “takes investment directly away from the poor.”

The pope’s emphasis on accepting tax obligations and tax equity “really goes back to very early church teaching,” Mr. LeCompte said, “these ideas that if we take more than what is enough, we’ve taken it from people who don’t have enough.” The pope frequently spoke about distributive economics, “which is part of what tax is.”

Among the pope’s final acts was the declaration of 2025 as a Jubilee Year that would include a focus on addressing the immiserating debt burden of poor nations as a new global debt crisis looms. Pope Francis flipped the script in talking about how to address climate change and poverty and how to finance economic development, according to Mr. LeCompte.

The pope consistently pointed out, he said, that in historical terms the earth’s riches have been extracted from the world’s vulnerable peoples and delivered to the affluent West, while powerless states imported poverty, ecological ruin and debt. Addressing those historic inequities through a practical, persisting debt jubilee process, the pope insisted, would be a measure of justice, not an act of charity.

“I like to tell people the most important speech that Pope Francis ever gave is the speech that no one understood, and that was his 2015 speech to the United Nations,” Mr. LeCompte remembers. “If you look at the press coverage, people say [of the speech]: ‘Oh, he talked about climate change.’ ‘No, he talked about war.’ ‘No, he talked about human rights.’”

But Pope Francis talked about those issues, Mr. LeCompte said, as part of an interconnected complex that can be traced back to global economic inequities, part of the reason he has “so forcefully made this Jubilee Year a focus on debt relief.”

The pope, he said, endorsed “permanent and continuous processes to deal with the challenges of debt and financial inequities,” arguing that “only if we deal with those things are we going to have the tools and resources to deal with poverty, to deal with climate change, to deal with human rights, to deal with the scourge of war.”

Read more here.

Washington DC – On Thursday, G20 finance ministers met on global economic growth, uncertain economic conditions, debt and expanding development bank aid. No communique was issued from the G20.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitors G20 meetings, releases the following statement on the G20 finance ministers meeting during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings:

“The G20 faces its greatest test since the pandemic, with challenges for economic growth, an uncertain economy, rising debt problems and threats of inflation.

“More than half of the poorest countries need immediate solutions for debt relief.

“We urgently need to improve the tools that can allow developing countries to deal with debt problems and crises.

“Expanding the lending capacity of multilateral development banks is important as less aid goes to developing countries.

“We will need to go beyond the additional $35 billion annual increase of development bank aid and loans that was announced last year.”

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF Spring Meetings here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF Global Financial Stability Report here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF World Economic Outlook report here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain-raiser speech here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the passing of Pope Francis who had focused this year's Church efforts on debt relief and IMF reform here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Devex. In the article, LeCompte discusses the release of a playbook on debt restructuring proposed by world leaders at the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings. He discusses the statements made by Kristalina Georgieva and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as the need to deal with the debt crisis and tariffs. Read an excerpt below, or the full article here.

US tariffs threaten to push debt-distressed nations closer to the brink

By: Jesse Chase-Lubitz

"The playbook guides countries on how to assess debt sustainability, whom to hire on legal and financial issues, and how to engage early with creditors.

"Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, said that the playbook “puts more information at the hands of countries trying to get out of the debt crisis.” However, the playbook is “limited” and “doesn’t offer the creative thinking that we need to get to economic stability,” he added.

In the meantime, the IMF has said that cuts in development aid, trade tensions, and possible rising inflation in some countries will push more countries into deeper debt crises.

“Both the IMF’s head, Kristalina Georgieva, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made helpful statements about the real need to deal with debt challenges in a more preemptive way and before we reach a crisis,” said LeCompte, referring to remarks from Bessent on Wednesday about the need to “minimize periods of debt distress.”

However, LeCompte added that while the statements are “really helpful, we are seeing little action to actually resolve the greater debt crises that will now unfold.”"


Read more here.