US Catholic leaders/organizations urge Biden to support debt relief measures

Pax Christi USA is one of more than two dozen national Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas-Justice Team, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Franciscan Action Network, and the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, to name only a few, that have signed a new letter to President Biden urging him to take clear steps to ensure needed debt relief for impoverished countries.

The letter asks that the president take action by supporting the issuance of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which would allow poorer countries to repay debt or to purchase food and/or medicine, or to strengthen their reserves. Biden can take this action in his executive role; no Congressional approval is necessary, and it can be done at no cost to the United States.

This would be an appropriate step to take as we prepare to enter the new Jubilee year.

Read the entire letter with signatories below.

December 18, 2024

Dear Mr. President:

We, the undersigned Catholic leaders and organizations, write to urge you to use your executive authority to provide people around the world with direly needed relief from their suffering in the face of poverty, hunger, and natural disaster, by supporting a new issuance of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Such a move will cap your legacy of global leadership.

As we approach the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis has made clear that our faith calls us to strive toward a more just global economic order, and to support people who are left behind by the inequities of the present order. There is much work to be done to fulfill this calling. Throughout the Year of Jubilee, we will join our brothers and sisters around the world in promoting a broad agenda of relief for poor and indebted nations.

But there is one action that you alone can take today, at no cost to the United States and without congressional approval, that would provide much-needed relief to indebted countries and the people that call them home: supporting a new issuance of SDRs.

As you are aware, SDRs are a reserve asset issued by the IMF to its member states in times of need. These SDRs can be used to repay debt, exchanged for hard currency to finance critical imports like food and medicine, or held onto to bolster foreign reserves and avert monetary crises.

In 2021, you supported a new issuance of $650 billion in SDRs at the IMF. We commend you for this decision, which in one fell swoop provided the developing world with more resources than an entire year of foreign aid from all countries. These resources were used to purchase and distribute vaccines, to care for the vulnerable, and to invest in health care for the poor. Hundreds of thousands of lives were likely saved.

The conditions facing the world today demand your support once more. Amidst an accelerating debt crisis, increasingly catastrophic climate change-driven natural disasters, and economic shocks exacerbated by international conflict, humanity is facing a perilous path ahead.

As fellow Catholics, we are called by our faith to do all that we can to alleviate the suffering of others. You have an opportunity to do so on a nearly unprecedented scale, impacting the lives of millions at no cost, with little more than the stroke of a pen. We urge you to do so.

Sincerely,

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Adrian Dominican Sisters

All-Africa Conference: Sister to Sister

Benedictines for Peace

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces

Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes

Daughters of Wisdom US JPIC Office

Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa Peace and Justice Office

Franciscan Action Network

Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart

Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA-JPIC

Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Loreto Generalate

Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network - Africa

Leadership Team of the Felician Sisters of North America.

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Medical Mission Sisters, Justice Office

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Pax Christi USA

Roman Union Ursulines of the United States

Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ US Region JPIC Office

Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

Sisters of Christian Charity

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team

Sisters of the Precious Blood

Union of Sisters of the Presentation of BVM - USA Province

CALIFORNIA

Sisters of the Presentation San Francisco, CA

ILLINOIS

Chicago Benedictines for Peace

INDIANA

Sisters of Providence of SMW

IOWA

Sisters of St. Francis of Clinton, Iowa

NEW YORK

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Albany

Sisters of Charity of New York, Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation

OHIO

Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Office of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation

PENNSYLVANIA

Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Greensburg, PA

Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Benedictine Sisters of Erie

WASHINGTON

Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Office of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation

WISCONSIN

Servants of Mary, Ladysmith, Wisconsin

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer

Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Western Province Leadership

INDIVIDUALS

Sister Mary Richardine Blue, RSM, Arizona

Sister Helen Marie Burns, RSM, Michigan

Sister Catherine Darcy, RSM, New York

Sister Karen Donahue, RSM, Michigan

Sister Suzanne Gallagher, RSM, Pennsylvania

Sister Jan Ginzkey, OSB, Colorado

Sister Mary Ellen Howard, RSM, Michigan

Sister Diane Koorie, RSM, Oklahoma

Sister Maria Klosowski, RSM, Michigan

Elizabeth Lutz

Sister Margaret McBride, RSM, Arizona

Sister Maureen Mulcrone, RSM, Michigan

Jennifer Morin-Williamson, Coordinator, Sisters of the Precious Blood, Ohio

Sister Rose Therese Nolta, SSpS, Illinois

Sister Kate O'Donnell OSF, Pennsylvania

Sister Maria Orlandini OSF, Sister and Director of Advocacy, Franciscan Action Network

Sister Benvinda Pereira, RSM, Arizona

Fran Quigley, Indianapolis, Indiana

William Quigley, Emeritus Professor, Loyola Law, Louisiana

Gabriel Silvano

Jean Stokan, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas

Sister Eileen P. Smith, RSM, New Jersey