Pope Francis has called on all nations to end the death penalty, divert some arms spending to a global fund to fight hunger and climate change, and cancel the debt of developing nations in order to usher in a new era of hope. Source: OSV News.
“Sporadic acts of philanthropy are not enough. Cultural and structural changes are necessary, so that enduring change may come about,” the Pope said in his message for World Peace Day 2025.
The message, “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace,” was released yesterday at a Vatican news conference ahead of the January 1 commemoration.
Offering his “cordial good wishes for the New Year to the heads of state and government, to the leaders of international organisations, to the leaders of the various religions and to every person of goodwill,” the Pope made three proposals for bringing about “much-needed changes” during the Jubilee Year, which focuses on “Pilgrims of Hope.”
The proposals, he wrote, are “capable of restoring dignity to the lives of entire peoples and enabling them to set out anew on the journey of hope.”
The first proposal, he wrote, is renewing the appeal launched by St John Paul II for the Holy Year 2000 to consider “reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations”.
The Pope’s second proposal was for “a firm commitment” to respecting “the dignity of human life from conception to natural death”. He said a “concrete gesture that can help foster the culture of life” is the elimination of the death penalty in all nations.
The Pope’s third appeal follows “in the footsteps of St. Paul VI and Benedict XVI,” he wrote. “In this time marked by wars, let us use at least a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global fund.”
Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, told reporters at the Vatican yesterday that Caritas Internationalis was launching a global campaign called “‘Turn debt into hope’ with a global petition aimed at raising awareness about the systemic change needed.”
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Pope calls for end to foreign debt, death penalty ahead of Jubilee Year (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
