Recalling Jubilee, Vatican newspaper highlights plight of debtor nations in Global South

June 12, 2025

In a two-article series in its June 11 edition, the Vatican newspaper highlighted the plight of debtor nations in the Global South.

In the brief but prominent front-page article “L’insostenibile peso del debito“ [The unsustainable burden of debt], Italian economist Riccardo Moro discussed how “the Global South is undermined in its ability to finance public spending to escape poverty.”

In “Il peso del debito è tornato insostenibile per i paesi del Sud Globale“ [The burden of debt has become unsustainable again for the countries of the Global South], Moro examined the phenomenon at greater length and argued that “we need to make finance an instrument of peace and not of violation of dignity.” He wrote:

The burden of debt has once again become an unsustainable burden on the countries of the so-called Global South, compromising the ability to adequately finance public spending to escape poverty. For this reason, 25 years after the Great Jubilee of 2000, Pope Francis has launched the Jubilee of Hope for 2025 and, as John Paul II had already done, has proposed to the international community a demanding commitment to intervene on international debt.

The Jubilee appeal has its roots in the Book of Leviticus in which the Lord, after having led his people to the Promised Land, explains that the members of the community are free to exchange goods and land and lend money to each other. Those who are unable to repay the debt can pay it by giving up their land and the work of their hands. But every 50 years the starting balance must be returned: the land must return to its original owner, freedom will be restored and any debts extinguished.

“The Earth is mine,” says the Lord forcefully, clarifying that the return to the original condition must be guaranteed to avoid what we today call “market errors,” which create inequalities that compromise human dignity. The Jubilee invitation is therefore to look at the degenerations of a market without rules and intervene to establish a new beginning in conditions of dignity for all.

 

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Further information:

• L’insostenibile peso del debito (L'Osservatore Romano)
• Il peso del debito è tornato insostenibile per i paesi del Sud Globale (L'Osservatore Romano)