Market Mayhem

The global financial crisis and the worldwide recession it triggered have demonstrated that allowing financial markets to regulate themselves does not serve national interests nor the good of the international community, according to Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to U.N. agencies based in Geneva. Speaking on April 22 during a U.N. Conference in Doha, Qatar, Archbishop Tomasi said the 2008 financial crisis “marked a turning point for the world economy.” The subsequent global economic recession, he said, “eliminated at least 30 million jobs around the world.” As a result, “the enjoyment of fundamental economic and social rights by countless persons has been compromised, including the right to food, water, decent work, education and health.” He added, “The international community cannot let the financial system continue being a source of global economic instability; it must urgently take measures to prevent the outbreak of other financial crises in the future.”