Pope Expresses Concern Over Rising Global Public Debt

Pope Francis offered his take on global public debt hitting a record $97 trillion last year and called for major reform to prevent it from increasing.

The United Nations released a report on Wednesday that examined the increase of $5.6 trillion in debt from 2022. Developing nations seem to be shouldering the highest interests, as they share $847 billion in net interest. Meanwhile, countries like the United States borrowed at rates two to four times lower than these nations, and Germany had rates six to 12 times lower.

Francis is from Argentina, which defaulted on its debt in 2020 for the third time since 2000. At the time, it owed $323 billion in international bonds. The pope called for the creation of “a multinational mechanism” that considers economic and social implications.

“The absence of such a mechanism favors the mentality of ‘every person for himself or herself,’ where the weakest always lose,” Francis told a Vatican conference on Wednesday. This comes as the Catholic Church prepares for a holy jubilee year in 2025.

According to the U.N. report, 3.3 billion people live in countries where more money is spent on interest payments than climate, education, or health. Almost half of the 54 countries examined were in Africa. Francis suggested governments should not “morally require that its people suffer deprivations incompatible with human dignity.”

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One solution proposed by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development is to fund its sustainable development goals stimulus package further to develop a new “debt workout mechanism,” “support long-term sustainable development,” and scale up private resources.

The Catholic Church could likely replicate what it did for Jubilee 2000, when it encouraged countries to forgive some $130 billion of debt for the 35 poorest countries between 2000 and 2015.