GENOA, Italy, JULY 3, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Bishops of the Liguria region have appealed to leaders of the upcoming G-8 summit to «hear the cry of so many peoples of the world.»
The summit of the seven major industrial powers and Russia will be held July 18-21 in Genoa, capital of the Liguria region.
The bishops, in a message to the faithful, point out that the problems of public order linked to this summit «must not make one forget the fundamental responsibility of the G-8 to give an answer to the many and grave imbalances and injustices present in the world, which unbridled globalization makes extremely acute.»
Referring to the world´s needy, the bishops state: «They are poor peoples, trampled in their fundamental human rights, lacking the most minimal economic means of subsistence, needing education, unable to participate freely in social life, scourged by hunger, sickness, violence and war.»
Given the world situation, the priority of the participants in the G-8 summit should be a «planned and effective struggle against poverty,» the bishops emphasize.
The faithful are reminded that the poor in the world are, in the majority, young. Among «the rights of men,» the message said, «youth has the special right to hope, a right to construct, given that with generosity and the courage imparted by hope, youth achieves for itself and the world a very different future, less cynical and utilitarian than the one it has received.»
