Catholic leaders, development experts to explore solutions to global poverty

Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Catholic leaders, international development experts and grassroots advocates will gather in San Francisco this month to discuss strategies for alleviating global poverty.

Point 7 Now! Keeping America’s Promise To Make Poverty History is co-sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and will be held from Oct. 27 to 28 at St Mary’s Cathedral.

Jeffrey Sachs, author of The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, will give the keynote address. The director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Sachs was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders.

Among the many speakers are Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Peter Kimeu, director of Catholic Relief Services’ Global Poverty Solidarity Partnership of Kenya.

Cardinal Martino will address how the Catholic Church throughout the world can help eliminate poverty by supporting the Millennium Development Goals, in particular committing 0.7 percent of developed countries’ gross national product to developing countries.

The gathering is expected to help mobilize a sustained national commitment for the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty, a multi-year effort by the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services.

The campaign focuses on shaping U.S. trade policies with an emphasis on overcoming poverty and promoting human development, supporting long-term development, and eliminating the debt burden of poor countries.

The World Bank estimates that 1.1 billion people live in extreme poverty.

For more about the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty, go to: www.usccb.org/globalpoverty/.