Cardinal Martino to Attend U.S. Meeting on Poverty
WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Raffaele Martino will address a meeting in San Francisco to discuss what the Catholic Church can do to alleviate global poverty.
“Point 7 Now! Keeping America’s Promise to Make Poverty History,” is co-sponsored by the Department of Social Development and World Peace of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, and will be held Oct. 27-28.
The congress will address how the Catholic Church throughout the world can help eliminate poverty by supporting the Millennium Development Goals, in particular committing 0.7% of developed countries’ gross national product to developing countries.
Cardinal Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will also speak on halving extreme poverty, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.
The gathering will help mobilize a sustained national commitment for the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty, a multi-year effort by the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services.
Jeffrey Sachs, author of “The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time,” will give the keynote address. He is also the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.