Vatican City, 30 April 2007 – Catholic Church leaders from some of the world's poorest countries are touring European capitals this week to call on the world's richest countries to keep promises on aid at the next G8 summit.

The tour is part of an international Catholic campaign, " Make Aid Work. The World Can't Wait," calling on G8 governments to increase aid and ensure it effectively targets poverty.

The delegates include Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegulcigapa, Honduras, Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi, India, and Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo of Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo.

They will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London on Monday, followed by the German President Horst Köhler in Berlin on Wednesday, and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Thursday. The tour will end with a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on Friday. The G8 summit of rich nations is 6-8 June in Heiligendamm, Germany.

G8 leaders promised at their meeting in Gleneagles in 2005 to increase aid by $50 billion a year, but the latest figures from the Africa Progress Panel headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said rich countries were only 10 percent of the way to their target.

Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja said, "We witness children dying as a result of malnutrition and a lack of basic health care in our countries. But we see record rates of economic growth in other parts of the world.

"The G8 governments have no mandate for global governance, yet their decisions affect millions of poor people. They have a responsibility to ensure that their policies guide the world towards human and environmental development." 

The campaign is organized by the two international networks of Catholic development organizations - CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis.

Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Duncan MacLaren is joining the tour for its German leg. He said, "The result of the world's lack of action will be tens of thousands dying daily in extreme poverty, millions of children without school, clean water and healthcare."

The Make Aid Work campaign is asking for the G8 to publish a clear timetable for meeting the financial promises made in 2005, for new lending to be responsible and to avert a new debt crisis, and to ensure that the aid and debt relief they give, through the World Bank, the European Union and other donors, is not tied to conditions which are unacceptable to developing countries and their people.

For more information, contact: Nancy McNally, Tel: +39 06 69879752, Mobile: +39 334 2344 136 mcnally@caritas.va or visit www.caritas.org