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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 11, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Jubilee USA Network this week sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to pursue global debt relief initiatives that will economically serve both developing countries and the United States.
In the letter, Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, the chairman of the USCCB's Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Eric LeCompte, the executive director at Jubilee USA Network, argued that "building on the successes" of relief initiatives introduced by Trump during his first term could lower global debt.
Jubilee USA Network on its website describes itself as "a coalition of religious, development, and advocacy groups" and "works on debt, tax, trade, and transparency policies that help end poverty."
The letter stated the president previously "expanded and introduced new global debt relief initiatives … while also leading the world in creating crisis response policies that ameliorated the suffering of billions of people in the United States and around the world."
"As you know, debt relief and restructuring make effective economic and security policies, strengthening our country's global moral leadership," the leaders wrote. "These policies, which cost us little, contribute significantly to the stability of our trading partners, reduce food and fuel prices here at home, and support American jobs and exports."
The statement follows the start of Turn Debt into Hope, a campaign initiated at the beginning of 2025 by Jubilee USA and international aid organizations with the aim of continuing St. John Paul II's 2000 Jubilee mission of debt relief for the world's poorest countries.
Zaidan and LeCompte quoted Pope Francis, who in December wrote that he "urge[d] the international community to work toward forgiving foreign [debt] existing between the North and South of this world. This is an appeal for solidarity, but above all for justice."
The letter reported that developing nations spend on average more than 40% of their revenue on debt payments. The leaders also highlighted that nearly 800 million people worldwide face hunger and 700 million live in "extreme poverty."
In order to help find a solution, Zaidan and LeCompte said their organizations "stand ready to work" with the president on the central priorities of U.S. policy: "debt crises, ensuring global market stability, and fostering efforts to strengthen our country's trade access, safety, and prosperity."
Zaidan and LeCompte said with the president's help they "can maximize global trade dynamics that will benefit U.S. businesses and workers by restructuring global debt … by creating the debt reduction processes that Pope Francis is promoting for Jubilee 2025."
They said this process "can cut debts to sustainable levels and thus allow developing countries to reduce poverty."
"To effectively do this, developing countries' debt payments should be suspended while debt reduction schemes are developed," they said, arguing that the move would not only benefit "the 73 poorest countries" but also "middle income countries," including America's trading partners, allies, and U.S. product consumers.
The statement said these efforts will "cost the U.S. taxpayer very little yet maximize global American leadership."
"Simply stated, the world needs strong American leadership on debt relief and financial architecture reform."
"This will foster the global stability that enhances America's trade partnerships — bolstering U.S. imports and exports in the developing world, protecting our taxpayers, pension savings, and consumers, and making America safer, wealthier, and stronger," the leaders said.
