European and South American Bishops Advocate for Poor Countries

BERLIN, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A delegation of bishops is touring Europe to promote goals set by the U.N. Millennium Summit that ask for an increase in aid for developing countries by 2015.

The delegation, headed by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, bishop of Mainz and president of the German bishops’ conference, handed German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a petition Wednesday that advocates the establishment of a strategic association for development, the removal of trade barriers, further cancellations of foreign debt and an increase in aid for development.

The delegation also includes Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of San Marcos, Guatemala; and Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranci, India. The prelates will also visit London and Paris.

According to Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, the purpose of the prelates’ tour is to exert pressure on “governments that subscribed to the Millennium’s development objectives, thus committing themselves to eliminate the most painful forms of poverty” by 2015.

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