Economic Impacts on Poor are Central Themes of Francis Five-Year Papacy
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."
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Jubilee USA began when Christian, Jewish and Muslim institutions and faith communities called to cancel debt and invest in some of the world's poorest communities. Our founders range from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to American Jewish World Service. As a community of faith we still tackle the global and local structural issues of poverty and inequality.
Today, Jubilee USA is a coalition of 750 faith communities around the country and national faith organizations, including the national Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Methodist and Episcopal churches, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, Islamic Relief and the leadership of numerous Catholic religious orders.
Learn more about how faith communities implement our vision in the resources below. We hope that you and your faith community will join us to build an economy that serves, protects and promotes participation of the most vulnerable and win a true Jubilee.