Rome, Italy, Aug 10, 2011 / 03:43 am
The United States is not necessarily “a nation in decline or struck to the core” according to the head of the Vatican Bank.
“The United States remains the most technologically advanced country in the world, with the highest GDP, surpassing one and a half times that of Europe, four times that of China, and ten times that of Italy,” wrote Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, President of the Vatican Bank, in the Vatican’s newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
His Aug. 9 comments came in the middle of a week of global financial uncertainty due in large part to concerns over the U.S. economy. Last week the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s marked down the United States’ credit rating for the first time in its history amid fears over the U.S.’s ability to pay its debts.
“The fact that it has been declassified does not flatten it to the ground, but probably will cause it to be more humble and open to collaborating with Europe,” said Gotti Tedeschi.