Forum Post: "The effects of recent economic and financial crises have had heavy consequences for countless people, reduced to conditions of extreme poverty. Many of them had only just reached a position that allowed them to look forward to the future with optimism.

"The effects of recent economic and financial crises have had heavy consequences for countless people, reduced to conditions of extreme poverty. Many of them had only just reached a position that allowed them to look forward to the future with optimism.

"Through no faults of their own," the pope continues, "they have seen these hopes cruelly dashed, with tragic results for themselves and their children. And how can we ignore the effects of fluctuations in the financial markets? We urgently need a new vision of global progress in solidarity, which will include an overall and sustainable development of society." Pope John Paul