U2 singer Bono travelled to the Vatican on Friday to thank the Church for its work to free the world's least developed countries from their foreign debt, enabling them to invest in education, reports the Catholic News Agency.
Bono spent nearly an hour speaking with Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, according to Vatican Radio.
In 2000, the Church was an important backer of the “Drop the Debt” campaign, which coincided with the Church's jubilee year. Bono was one of the leading figures in the campaign, and is known for his activism for world’s poorest people.
Drop the Debt was an effort to persuade first-world nations to forgive the debt owed them by the poorest countries.
The success of that effort has made possible “an extra 52 million children going to school,” Bono told Vatican Radio, since governments were able to use the money they would have had to pay back for investment in schools.
Bono said the Church deserves “incredible credit” for their role in securing debt forgiveness, and that Catholics should be made aware of how their faith was central in the efforts.
FULL STORY Bono thanks Vatican for helping with debt forgiveness (CNA)