Vatican diplomat calls on wealthy nations to honor their international development commitments

April 25, 2026

Addressing a UN forum on international development financing, a Vatican diplomat called on wealthy nations to “honor their official development assistance commitments.”

“When discussing the technical elements of global financing, people must be at the heart of development,” Msgr. Marco Formica, counselor of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, said on April 23. “Frameworks and financial tools are merely means to an end. Ultimately, their value must be measured by their ability to uphold the inherent God-given dignity of each person, and to promote the wellbeing of all, especially the poorest and most in need.”

“Of particular concern is the widening gap between the commitments made in international frameworks and the lived realities of billions of people,” Msgr. Formica continued. “Debt burdens are stifling public investment in healthcare, education, and social protection. Aid commitments are either not being met or are being broken while spending on arms is increasing.”

“Those in vulnerable situations continue to bear the greatest costs of crises they did not cause,” he added. “This is not only a policy failure, but also a moral one.”

Msgr. Formica also called for “debt relief mechanisms to be made more accessible, more transparent and more responsive to human need”; “private financing to be oriented not solely towards return on investment, but towards the common good”; and “indebted countries to be more accountable for their spending.”

 

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Further information:

• Statement of the Holy See at the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-Up (Holy See Mission, 4/23/26)