Canada’s bishops call for Global South debt forgiveness

“Forgive us our Debts: Pastoral Letter on Debt Forgiveness in the Jubilee Year” was published by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace on July 28. In this Jubilee Year, the commission said, it is appropriate for creditors to cancel debts “that oppress and hold back integral human development”.

The pastoral letter critiques creditors for some actions they use to exacerbate the problem.

“To receive a loan, creditors sometimes require debtor countries to enact austerity conditions and privatise key sectors, making countries more dependent on foreign exports and denying the right of countries to develop on their own terms,” stated the letter.

“Creditors have also at times given loans to corrupt governments, where political leaders may use the money to enrich themselves or repress their citizens rather than to fund development.”

The CCCB referred to Pope Francis’ observation in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ that “countries in the Global South often host an abundance of land and resources but are exploited for the sake of profit and consumption in the Global North”.

The bishops suggested that “given the effects on the environment caused by commercial imbalances between North and South, we can speak of the existence of an ‘ecological debt'”.

Canada is “greatly blessed with abundant natural resources, a stable political system, resilient infrastructure and a strong economy”, the bishops added, noting that “to whom much has been given, much will be required of us”.

The pastoral letter argued that Canada’s “privileged situation” was created in part from “access to the raw materials of the Global South”, so Canadians have a reason to support nations deprived of the same advantages. 

Meanwhile, a Catholic leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which dozens of Catholics have been killed this year, said the conflict in that nation has economic causes, as well as political and security dimensions.

Gilbert Dhego, director of the Diocese of Goma’s Justice and Peace Commission, said the conflict “stems from the desire of external actors to control the DRC’s strategic mineral resources”.

Mr Dhego argued that sustainable peace could only be achieved through a more just and equitable sharing of the country’s mineral wealth, proposing that “a fair distribution of the dividends from resource exploitation, achieved through transparent and inclusive mechanisms, could significantly reduce frustrations” and lay the foundation for lasting stability in the region.

FULL STORY

Canadian bishops’ pastoral letter calls for ecological justice, wiping out debt | National Catholic Reporter (By Quinton Amundson, NCR/The Catholic Register)

Outrage at military failure to stop parish massacre in DR Congo (The Tablet)