Pope calls for debt reduction for poorer countries to mark the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee Year

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is calling on wealthy countries and institutions to substantially reduce if not outright cancel debt as a matter of justice on the occasion of the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee Year. In a message for world peace, Francis referred on Thursday to St. John Paul II’s admonition in Jubilee Year 2000 that debt “threatens the future of many nations.” The pope has underlined the Jubilee Year as an opportunity to cancel debt. The once-every-quarter-century event formally begins on Christmas Eve, when Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome.