Pope Encourages G-20 Summit to Resolve Crisis

Stresses Goal of Authentic Human Development
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 10, 2010 ( Zenit.org ).- Benedict XVI is urging the Group of 20 world leaders to find lasting, sustainable and just solutions to the global economic crisis.
The Pope stated this in a message sent to Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the occasion of the two-day G-20 summit, which begins Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.

The Pontiff acknowledged that this 6th summit "seeks solutions to quite complex questions, on which the future of upcoming generations depends and which therefore require the cooperation of the entire international community."

This cooperation, he said, is "based on the acknowledgement -- which is shared and agreed by all peoples -- of the primary and central value of human dignity, the final objective of the choices themselves."

"The Catholic Church, in accordance with its specific nature, regards itself as involved and shares the concerns of the leaders who will take part in the Seoul Summit," the Holy Father said.

He continued, "I therefore encourage you to tackle the numerous serious problems facing you -- and which, in a sense, face every human person today -- bearing in mind the deeper reasons for the economic and financial crisis and giving due consideration to the consequences of the measures adopted to overcome the crisis itself, and to seek lasting, sustainable and just solutions."

"In doing so," Benedict XVI affirmed, "it is my hope that there will be a keen awareness that the solutions adopted, as such, will work only if, in the final analysis, they are aimed at reaching the same goal: the authentic and integral development of man."

"The world's attention focuses on you," he stated, "and it expects that appropriate solutions will be adopted to overcome the crisis, with common agreements which will not favor some countries at the expense of others."

The Pope asserted, "It is decisive for the very future of humanity to show the world and history that today, thanks also to this crisis, man has matured to the point of being able to recognize that civilizations and cultures, like economic, social and political systems, can and must converge in a shared vision of human dignity, which respects the laws and requirements placed in it by God the Creator."

He added that "the G-20 will respond to the expectations placed in it and grant real success to future generations, if taking into consideration the various and sometimes contrasting problems afflicting the peoples of the earth, it is able to set out the characteristics of the universal common good and demonstrate its willingness to cooperate in order to attain it."

--- --- ---

On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: http://zenit.org/article-30918?l=english