The Vatican calls in a document for "the cancellation of ecological debt"

Vatican City, June 24 (EFE) - The Vatican's Dicastery for Integral Human Service published a document Tuesday reiterating, on the occasion of the Jubilee, the call for "the cancellation of the ecological debt," which represents, they say, "the cost weighing on future generations and on the planet due to the current excessive consumption of natural resources, as well as the financial cost, which falls excessively on the most disadvantaged countries."

In addition to seeking to draw global attention to the urgent issue of ecological debt, the document also invites the entire Church "to a pastoral commitment aimed at promoting a truly sustainable model of integral human development, capable of combining care for creation, environmental justice, and the promotion of peace."

The document explains that although "traditionally the term 'debt' has been associated with the financial situation of numerous developing countries that have acquired debts with industrialized economies," the blame placed on the most industrialized countries for the phenomenon of global warming and the intensive exploitation of natural resources in developing countries is always omitted."

Therefore, they point out, "developing countries have, relative to more industrialized countries, a true ecological credit that should offset, at least in part, the financial debt they bear."

"From this perspective, a concrete measure could be the implementation of debt restructuring mechanisms, recognizing the existence of two interconnected forms of debt that characterize today: one economic in nature and the other environmental in nature," they argue.

They criticize the fact that "the populations that have contributed least to the climate crisis are currently suffering the most serious consequences."

They add that "the growing unsustainability of debt constitutes one of the main structural challenges that perpetuate economic and social inequalities worldwide."

For this reason, the Catholic Church insists on its "request for debt forgiveness for the poorest countries, not as an act of mere generosity and solidarity, but as an act of justice, based on awareness of the systemic imbalances and profoundly asymmetrical economic relations between industrialized and developing countries."

And they invite "building a new alliance among peoples, based on a profound reform of economic regulations and a truly sustainable model of comprehensive human development, capable of combining care for creation, environmental justice, and the promotion of peace." EFE

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