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Caritas sends "Make Aid Work" message to G8 with giant banner in St Peter's
05 Jun 2007 17:22:55 GMT
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Vatican City, 5 June 2007 – Twenty-five bishops and archbishops, fifty priests and nuns, and three hundred other Caritas delegates raised a giant "Make Aid Work" banner in front of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican today.

The "Make Aid Work" banner is a message from the Caritas General Assembly in Rome to G8 leaders meeting 6-8 June in Heiligendamm, Germany, to back up their promises on aid with financial commitments.

Caritas members working in over two hundred countries and territories are meeting this week in Vatican City to discuss how to combat poverty more effectively.

Caritas Internationalis and the CIDSE network, which also took part in event, are partners in the "Make Aid Work" campaign.

Pledges made two years ago at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to increase aid to developing countries by an extra US$50bn by 2010 have not been met. Instead, figures show a drop in aid in 2006.

Caritas Secretary General Duncan MacLaren said, "The 'Make Aid Work' banner in St Peter's sends a clear message to G8 leaders – the scandal of poverty must end.  

"The G8 made promises two years ago that would have lifted millions out of poverty. Instead, we have seen backsliding on aid. The latest figures show aid flows in reverse for the first time in 10 years. Of the worst offenders, Italy is predicted to be $8 billion short on its promises, France $7.6 billion short and Germany $7 billion.

"Caritas delegates will leave our General Assembly in Vatican City with a renewed commitment to fighting poverty that will be translated into action on the ground.

"G8 leaders must know that nothing will come of nothing. If they leave Heiligendamm without concrete plans then they will have failed the poor. But they must also know that we will not go away. We will speak again."

For more information, contact: Nancy McNally, CI Media Officer Tel: +39 06 69879752 or +39 33423 44 136

CIDSE is an alliance of 15 Catholic development organizations from Europe and North America (www.cidse.org). CIDSE is based in Brussels.

 Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations working to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed, in over 200 countries and territories. Learn more about Caritas Internationalis on www.caritas.org

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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