Pope Benedict said yesterday he hoped this week's meeting of G8 will bring genuine and long-lasting relief to Africa.
"My heartfelt hope is that this important meeting is successful, that it leads to a sharing out of the costs of reducing debt and puts in motion concrete measures to eradicate poverty and promote genuine development in Africa."
In a message released on Saturday, the Pope urged G8 leaders to honour past commitments. "God intended the earth and all it contains for the use of everyone and of all peoples," he said in a message to Scottish Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien."For this reason, people from the world's richest countries ... should urge their leaders to fulfil the pledges made to reduce world poverty, especially in Africa, by 2015".