Pope seeks major changes to financial system

Pope Benedict XVI challenged world leaders on Thursday to make major changes to the global financial system, saying short-term answers to the financial crisis weren’t sufficient.

“It’s not enough, as Jesus said, to put patches on an old suit,” Benedict said in his New Year’s Day blessing to thousands of people huddled under umbrellas in a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square.

Echoing a similar theme in his New Year’s Day homily, Benedict said the crisis should be seen as a test-case about the future of globalization.

“Are we ready to read it in its complexity as a way for the future and not just an emergency to respond to with short-term answers?” he asked. “Are we ready to make a profound revision in the dominant development model, to correct it in a farsighted and concerted way?” Read Article

By Nicole Winfield