VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The global crisis shows that the world needs economic ethics and new rules so the financial system benefits all humanity, Pope Benedict said on Monday in his keynote speech for the New Year.
In a wide-ranging address, the pontiff also called for the end of violence across North Africa and the Middle East, and denounced attacks against religious freedom.
“The present moment is sadly marked by a profound disquiet and the various crises – economic, political and social – are a dramatic expression of this,” he told diplomats in what has come to be known as his yearly “state of the world” speech.
He said the “grave and disturbing developments of the global economic and financial crisis” that had started in industrialized countries were now infecting the world and leaving many, particularly the young, disoriented and frustrated.
Adding a personal touch to appeals that have been made in recent Vatican documents, Benedict called for an injection of ethics in the way the world economy is run.
“The crisis can and must be an incentive to reflect on human existence and on the importance of its ethical dimension,” he said, addressing diplomats from nearly 180 countries in French.
Changes in the economy should
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