Caritas: ‘Crippling' debt weighing down developing countries
Vatican officials, charity workers, and internationally-recognised economists come together to discuss debt reform in an online town hall organised by Caritas Internationalis. May 29, 2025
A participant at an International Monetary Fund meeting stands near the organisation's logo (Johannes P. Christo)
By Joseph Tulloch3.3 billion people – or nearly half the world's population – live in countries that spend more money on debt than on healthcare.
That was one of the more shocking statistics to emerge from a recent online town hall organised by Caritas Internationalis , the charitable arm of the Catholic Church.
Held on Wednesday, the webinar brought together more than 200 individuals – humanitarian workers, internationally-recognised economists, and senior Vatican officials – to discuss debt, climate, and development.
'Turn debt into hope'
Alastair Dutton, Caritas' Secretary-General, introduced the discussion. He suggested that the fact that so many countries spend more on servicing their debt than on healthcare and education shows that, in today's economy, human beings are secondary "to economic interest'.
Dutton also highlighted that the subject of debt reform has already been raised by Pope Leo, just weeks into his pontificate. The topic was also seen as crucial, the Caritas chief noted, by the late Pope Francis – who, in 2024, called for a 'multinational mechanism' to manage debt between countries, avoiding an 'every man for himself' mentality in which 'it is always the weakest' who lose out.
In his remarks, Dutton highlighted Caritas' Turn Debt Into Hope campaign, which calls for the forgiveness of unjust debt.
The aim of the campaign – as Caritas officer Alfonso Apicella explained – is to build public pressure around unfair debt practises, particularly in view of the Catholic Church's ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year, a period traditionally associated with financial clemency.
'There are 1.4 billion Catholics in the world,' Apicella said, 'and we want to show that they have agency.'
The impact of the debt system Among the other speakers at the event was Professor Martin Guzmán of Columbia University, a former Argentinian Minister of Economy.
Professor Guzmán highlighted the devastating effects of the global debt system on the world's poorest countries, which, he said, are charged higher interest rates than their richer peers. He also discussed the work of the Vatican's Jubilee Commission of Experts, chaired by the Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, which is producing a report on debt and development crises in the Global South.
Meanwhile, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, Secretary of the Holy See's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, highlighted Pope Francis' notion of the 'ecological debt' owed by rich countries towards the poorer countries - which are suffering the effects of a climate crisis which they have contributed much less to causing.
This was a topic also touched on by Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, who noted that the concept of ecological debt was also highlighted by Pope Francis in his Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year.
Archbishop Caccia stressed the importance of clearly communicating the impact of the debt system on poor countries. 'It's not just a technical matter of economics,' he said, but 'a clear hindrance to integral human development.'--Vatican News
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None of the rebels has a military plan to capture Myanmars capital. To topple the military regime in Naypyidaw and form a national democratic government, the rebel groups have placed the responsibility upon the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government in exile under the political inspiration of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ousted leader is presently serving jail terms on charges of sedition. Myanmars capital, Naypyidaw, is besieged by ethnic rebels who have taken two-thirds of the country from the military junta led by General Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled Myanmar as the State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman since seizing power in the February 2021 coup dtat. In July 2024, he wore presidential robes in July 2024. To the Myanmarese, the obsession with the failed peace plan is beyond frustrating. They simply cant help wondering why ASEAN leaders remain so delusional when it comes to this consensus, which has delivered nothing for Myanmar. Since ASEAN adopted the 5PC in 2021, the junta has never honoured it. First and foremost, the consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar. This step has never been implemented by the junta. Instead of ending military rule, the regime has rained bombs on its citizens and blocked essential supplies, including healthcare facilities, not to mention the continued atrocities like arson and massacres. Over the past four years, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by the military, including children, prompting the UN early this year to say that the junta had ramped up its violence against civilians to a level that was unprecedented in the four years since the generals launched their coup. Rather than taking the juntas total disregard for its plan as a blatant insult, ASEANs leadership doggedly clings to the 5PC as its main reference to address the political crisis in Myanmar, writes Hpone Myat in anti-establishment news portal The Irrawaddy. The news organization Irrawaddy, named after a yawning river in Myanmar, operates in exile in a neighbouring country for the safety and security of its staff. Myanmar has become the most dangerous place for journalists after the recent sentencing of Than Htike Myint to five years in jail under Myanmars Counter Terrorism Law on 3 April. The military was holding 55 journalists in detention in June 2024, according to a report by the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). ASEANs continued faith in the 5PC in the face of the regimes repeated intransigence is incomprehensible. In the light of this, the people of Myanmar are not sure whether to praise the bloc for its consistency or feel sorry for its naivety in dealing with the most ruthless regime on earth. Apart from the statement, remarks from the blocs current chair, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, were out of context and deliberately did not touch base as the military junta is sinking into a quicksand. In April, Anwar met with junta chief Hlaing in Bangkok and held virtual talks with Myanmars National Unity Government (NUG) in exile. Malaysian Premier Anwar Ibrahim should not have appeased Min Aung Hlaing, believing in the illusions that the General would restore peace in the country, riddled with civil strife. After a call from the ASEAN meeting in April, Hlaing promised a ceasefire by the Myanmar armed forces, Tatmadaw, and the ethnic rebels. His junta even signed an MOU with some rebels, but that ceasefire was broken within days. Hlaings air force continued to bomb civilian areas, causing immense suffering, pain, and agony for the villagers. At the summit, he (Anwar) described those talks as significant, saying both sides were open to engagement while highlighting Gen Hlaings supposed willingness to engage in peace efforts despite dubbing NUG as a terrorist organization. In his opening remarks to the summit in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar said ASEAN had been able to move the needle forward in its efforts to achieve an eventual resolution to the Myanmar crisis, adding that the steps may be small and the bridge may be fragile, but even a fragile bridge is better than a widening gulf. There is not even a fragile bridge, given his dishonesty and insincerity. His willingness to engage in peace talks is merely fictional and a hollow promise; Myanmars generals have historically never been known for sincerely engaging in peace efforts. They only engage or join dialogue as a pretext to ease external pressures. No such talks have ever borne fruit. Ask any ethnic armed resistance organization or opposition politician in Myanmar, and they will enlighten you as to how historically untrustworthy the previous generals and Min Aung Hlaing are, laments Hpone Myat. ASEAN members have univocally urged the regime in Naypyidaw to extend a temporary ceasefire and engage in peace talks with its rivals at the summit, but did not spell out a timeline. Instead, the ASEAN urged that negotiations were needed and that Malaysias Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan would visit Naypyidaw in June regarding the mitigation of the crisis. Furthermore, the regional leaders statement on an extended and expanded ceasefire in Myanmar can only be greeted with dismay. The leaders further called for the sustained extension and nationwide expansion of the ceasefire in Myanmar, but the reality is the ceasefire has never existed on the ground, as the junta has consistently violated the truce from the very start, wrote The Irrawaddy. Instead of being unrealistic about the reality of present-day Myanmar, ASEAN should have adopted a serious resolution against the regime. Such moves would have put pressure on the junta by making it harder for it to survive, but also would have helped move the currently stalled resolution mechanism for Myanmars crisis forward. To make that happen, the bloc must first drop its empty rhetoric and take meaningful steps, concludes Hpone Myat. Last week, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised concern over the deteriorating human rights situation and economic collapse in Myanmar, with violent military operations killing more civilians last year than in any year since the 2021 coup. The military operations have sparked an unfolding humanitarian crisis. Over half the population now lives below the poverty line, facing food insecurity and soaring prices, which has worsened since the March 28 earthquake, according to the U.N. Possibly, ASEAN has lost all moral position to pressurise the military junta, since Justice for Myanmar accused 54 companies in Southeast Asian countries ASEAN of supplying the regime with funds, jet fuel and technology. Saleem Samad
