Benedict: Cancel Poor Nations’ Debt

According to a report from AllAfrica news service, Pope Benedict said debt cancellation for poor countries should be given the highest priority by the world’s richest countries, “for the sake of poor and rich countries alike.”

“Provision must be made for the rapid, total and unconditional cancellation of the external debt of the heavily indebted poor countries and of the least developed countries,” the Holy Father said in a December letter to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, that was published in late April.

In the letters, both the Pope and Merkel agreed that poor countries should be relieved from servicing the debts for effective development, and measures should be adopted to ensure that the countries do not fall once again into situations of unsustainable debt.

Cardinal:Drastic Climate Changes a Global Concern

Cardinal Renato Martino said April 25 that tackling climate change should not be left solely to scientists, and expressed concern poorer countries would suffer more than rich ones from global warming, reported the Associated Press.

“Those with greater resources to deal with these changes can be calmer, while those that don’t have these resources have more reason to worry,” Cardinal Martino told Vatican Radio. “Certainly in this field, we appeal ever more for international solidarity.”

“It is important not to leave (these problems) only to scientists, but we must also question ourselves about it and thus understand how all of us” can contribute to solving and containing the situation, the cardinal said in the radio interview.

Another Chinese Bishop Under Guard

According to Reuters, a Chinese bishop approved by the Vatican but not by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association has been held in custody for more than a month.

AsiaNews, which covers the Church in Asia, reported that Bishop Martin Wu Qinjing of Zhouzhi in the northern province of Shaanxi, was taken from his church on March 17.

It said the bishop was being held by police and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association at an undisclosed location, where he was being subjected to “political sessions” to force him to give up his diocese.

Bishop Wu was consecrated bishop in 2005 with the Vatican’s approval, but his leadership is not recognized by the government-approved church, which according to AsiaNews deemed the appointment illegal and controlled by “foreign influences.”