Pope Francis Sends Poverty Message with Selection of New Cardinals

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, a religious antipoverty organization, releases the following statement:

"In his brief tenure as Pope, Francis has continued to reiterate that the Catholic Church's focus must be to end poverty. His recent appointments of Cardinals continues to promote a vision of a church that is with and of the poor.

"Pope Francis' new Cardinals represent a church of the poor, a church from the South, a church that is becoming more comfortable on the margins.

"While no Americans were selected, nine of the sixteen Cardinals who are young enough to vote for the next Pope come from Asia, Africa or Latin America. The Pope is building voting power in the developing world."

Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations, 300 faith communities and 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee's mission is to build an economy that serves, protects and promotes participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee USA has won critical global financial reforms and more than $130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest people. http://www.jubileeusa.org