The Cardinal with Franz Kueberl, President of Caritas Austria and a young campaigner giving him a present
Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga told European Caritas delegates at a meeting in the Austria on 27 October that he feared rich countries would use the economic crisis to backtrack on aid pledges.
The Caritas Internationalis President said that promises made by rich countries to spend 0.7 percent of their annual budgets on development in poor countries had not been delivered.
Cardinal Rodríguez said that the globalised world is a divided one, with the rich making substantial profits and while many of the poor don’t receive the benefits.
He said it is the effort of the Catholic Church and civil society to create a globalization of solidarity to counter this situation.
He urged for “Global Marshal Plan” that included a fair distribution of goods so that nobody is excluded.
The meeting was hosted by Caritas Austria and included participants from many European Caritas members.
In the evening, Cardinal Rodríguez received the internationally distinguished Vickor Frankl prize for his work on psychotherapy at an event in Vienna.
Earlier in the week, the Vatican announced that Cardinal Rodríguez had been appointed on the council to prepare for the next Synod of Bishops.
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