THE VATICAN: The Pope has said that the "failure to keep commitments in the sphere of aid to developing nations is a serious moral question and further highlights the injustice of the imbalances existing in the world."
In his message for World Day of Peace yesterday he continued that when there was such failure "the suffering caused by poverty is compounded by the loss of trust. The end result is hopelessness."
If at all times commitments ought to be kept, "promises made to the poor should be considered particularly binding", he said.
On the Middle East he said that nowhere today was there "a more obvious need for the correct use of political authority" than there. In the Holy Land "the cumulative effect of bitter mutual rejection and an unending chain of violence and retaliation have shattered every effort so far to engage in serious dialogue on the real issues involved," he said.
"The fratricidal struggle that daily convulses the Holy Land and brings into conflict the forces shaping the immediate future of the Middle East shows clearly the need for men and women who, out of conviction, will implement policies firmly based on the principle of respect for human dignity," he said. Such policies were "incomparably more advantageous" to everyone than conflict," he said.
