Mary Ann Glendon says "poor can't wait," speaking on behalf of the Holy See

Vatican City, Jun 30, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Speaking on behalf of the Holy See, Mary Ann Glendon, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, has voiced an urgent call “for the family of nations to attend to the needs of its most vulnerable members. As Pope John Paul II has insisted,” she said, “‘the poor cannot wait.’”

Professor Glendon headed the Holy See delegation to the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s 2004 High Level Segment of Least Developed Countries, in New York on June 29.

The theme of the assembly was “Resource Mobilization and Enabling Environment for Poverty Eradication in the Context of the Implementation of the Program of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2002-2010.”

“No one can deny that the challenge to reverse what often appears to be a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty, especially of LDCs, is formidable,” said Glendon. “These challenges must not be used as excuses, but rather to spur us on to greater effort,” she added.

Glendon said in concluding that “the Holy See wishes to emphasize that any measure to promote authentic and lasting development must be protective of human dignity and culture. ... What is needed is a change of heart, that the international community may be ever bolder, more generous, more creative, more energetic in its struggle to finally end the division of the world into areas of poverty and plenty.”