Pope Francis has called for debt forgiveness for impoverished countries, urging wealthier nations to enable indebted nations to recover and develop.
The appeal was made in his 2025 World Day of Peace message, marked annually on January 1 to promote global peace.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the message, delivered by the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Martins, during Mass at the Holy Cross Catholic Cathedral in Lagos, emphasised mercy, hope, and forgiveness as key principles for a more peaceful and equitable world.
Quoting the Pope, Martins said, “God does not weigh up the evils we commit; rather, He is immensely rich in mercy, for the great love with which He loved us ( Eph 2:4).
That yet He also hears the plea of the poor and the cry of the earth.
“What the world will do is simply to stop for a moment at the beginning of 2025 to think of the mercy with which He constantly forgives our sins and forgives our every debt so that our hearts may overflow with hope and peace.”
The leader of the Vatican added that “in teaching us to pray the ‘Our Father, ‘Jesus started by asking the Father to forgive our trespasses but immediately moved to the challenging words, ‘as we forgive those who trespass against us’” (cf. Mt 6:12).
“Jesus teaches us to ask for forgiveness of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. To extend hope and forgiveness to others, we must first experience God’s mercy,” the Pope noted.