Vatican leads debt relief push at UN conference

By Caritas Internationalis

Vatican leads debt relief push at UN conference

Vatican officials and Catholic aid groups are pushing hard for debt relief reforms at a major UN conference, saying the global debt crisis forces poor countries to choose between paying creditors and helping their people. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Vatican’s UN representative, told delegates at the Fourth UN International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville that the international community has a “duty” to fix the broken financial system, according to a press release. He argued that “financial and economic policy should serve people” instead of the other way around.

The timing isn’t accidental. The UN recently found that developing countries face their worst debt crisis in over two decades, creating what officials call “devastating development trade-offs.” Many governments now struggle to fund basic services like healthcare and education while meeting debt payments to international creditors.

“It is both alarming and clear that developing countries are increasingly being forced to make impossible choices between servicing debt and serving their people,” Archbishop Caccia said during the Vatican-sponsored event.

Alistair Dutton, head of Caritas Internationalis, called the debt crisis the “least painful” global financing problem to actually solve. He welcomed pledges from conference participants to prevent creditors from dodging debt restructuring talks and to make debt burdens more manageable for struggling nations.

Finance experts at the discussion highlighted how countries in the Global South get trapped in cycles of debt and austerity that block investments in education, healthcare, and climate adaptation. The panel included debt specialists from UNCTAD, the UN, and Caribbean policy groups who emphasized the need for restructuring mechanisms that protect human rights.

The push comes during the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, which Dutton said represents “not simply a time for hope but a mandate for justice.” Several major Catholic aid organizations co-sponsored the event, reflecting the Church’s growing focus on economic justice issues.