The Record, Catholic Spirit and Catholic News Service feature Jubilee and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' letter to the White House for global debt relief expansion. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Religious leaders urge Biden to support global coronavirus aid, debt relief

By Dennis Sadowski

Two religious leaders, including the chairman of a U.S. bishops’ committee, urged the Biden administration to support the release of $3 trillion in global reserve funds to help developing countries respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Writing Feb. 23 to the White House, the leaders also called on the Group of 20 nations, or G-20, and private groups to cancel all debt and increase aid for the poorest developing countries, stop tax avoidance and create a permanent global bankruptcy process to prevent future economic crises.

“The letter lays out a road map on how to deal with the structures that cause poverty, inequality and the challenges we now face in this great economic crisis,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, an alliance of faith-based development and advocacy groups that spearheaded the effort.

The letter to Biden comes after the president attended the Group of 7, or G-7 virtual summit of major industrialized countries Feb. 19, during which he pledged the United States would return to a multilateral approach in tackling global challenges.

 

Read the full article here.