On Dec. 24, when Pope Francis opened the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to launch the 2025 Year of Jubilee, he called on wealthy countries and institutions to practice Jubilee by reducing or cancelling the debts owed by the world’s poorer nations.
In addition to that, he proposed the need for a new financial framework “lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness.”
This new framework should be based on “solidarity and harmony between people,’’ he said, adding this growing debt “threatens the future of many nations.”
In calling for debt relief for poorer countries, the Pope was taking seriously the biblical tradition of Jubilee, which comes from what Christians call the Old Testament of the Bible.
Read about the Year of
Jubilee and the biblical call for forgiveness of debts in my latest Free Press column.
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