Pope sends letter to Australia PM ahead of G20 summit

Reminds leaders of their responsibility to the poor and marginalized.

Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, who will chair the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the world’s 20 largest economies that will be held in Brisbane, November 15-16.

The G20 includes the 19 major developed and developing economies of the world — among them the US, China, Russia, India and Brazil — plus the European Union, and accounts for over two-thirds of the world’s population and some 90 percent of its economic output.

In his letter, the pope calls on the G20 leaders to work for solutions in the world economy that can combat unemployment, poverty and malnutrition. He urges them especially to find agreement and ways through the United Nations to bring “a definitive halt to the unjust aggression directed at different religious and ethnic groups, including minorities, in the Middle East” and to eliminate “the root causes of terrorism, which has reached proportions hitherto unimaginable; these include poverty, underdevelopment and exclusion”.

He also appeals to them to find ways to prevent aggression through “abuses in the financial system” and reminds them that “responsibility for the poor and the marginalized must be an essential element of any political decision, whether on the national or the international level”.

Source: America