Pope Francis on his first peace message of his pontificate called for countries to shrink the gap between rich and poor, some of whom he said were getting too little.
In a message to mark the Roman Catholic church’s “day of peace”, the Pope slammed outsize salaries and bonuses for corporate executives while others survive on “crumbs”.
Francis called on international leaders and corporate executives to implement “effective policies” to bridge the growing wealth gap.
“The grave financial and economic crises of the present time … have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy,” he said.
He added, ”The succession of economic crises should lead to a timely rethinking of our models of economic development and to a change in lifestyles,” he said.
