Sign the petition and join the global call to cancel and remedy unjust and unsustainable debts.
The following article was published in the January - February 2025 issue of NewsNotes.
On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the ceremonial door, the Porta Sancta, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to launch the 2025 Jubilee Year. Jubilee years are declared every quarter century in the Catholic Church since 1300 AD. Rooted in Old Testament tradition, Pope Francis has declared the focus of this Jubilee year will be debt forgiveness for impoverished nations.
Twenty-five years ago, thanks to millions of people around the world working to “break the chains of debt,” the 2000 Jubilee year saw $100 billion dollars of debt forgiven for 35 of the poorest countries. As a result, millions of people received access to health care and schooling.
But now, after the Covid-19 pandemic, and with the ongoing climate crisis and unjust international financial systems, too many developing countries find themselves in a new debt disaster, spending too much on servicing their debt and too little on health, nutrition, and education. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) published a report in December titled, “Jubilee 2025: The new global debt crisis and its solutions.” It identifies why, following the historic success of the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign, the world once again faces an acute global debt crisis, and what can be done this time to build a fair and functional system. Pope Francis urges wealthy nations to “acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and... forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them.”
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns recently joined with our partners in CIDSE in a Jubilee year campaign with the theme “Turn Debt into Hope.” The campaign features a petition that individuals across the globe can sign. The petition has three simple requests of world leaders:
- Stop the debt crisis now by cancelling and remedying unjust and unsustainable debts.
- Prevent debt crises from happening again by reforming the global financial system to prioritize people and the planet.
- Establish a permanent, binding, and transparent debt framework within the United Nations.
As of January, the petition over 600 signatures.
Faith in action
Sign the Jubilee campaign petition https://mogc.info/Jubilee
Photo of the banner image and logo for the Jubilee year "Turn Debt into Hope" Campaign courtesy of Caritas.