An increased commitment of the Netherlands for the realization of the so-called Millennium Goals: that is the hope of the Dutch bishops for the UN Millennium Top in New York planned for September this year. Cardinal Simonis, president of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference has written a letter to Jan Peter Balkenende urging the achievement of these goals. In his letter the cardinal recalls the support given by the Catholic Church when the Millennium Goals were proposed in 2000, and also emphasises the importance of the recent visit of a delegation of bishops from all continents to European capitals and to Brussels, seat of the European Union. The aim of the visit was to send a strong signal to the politicians responsible for the pledges assumed in 2000 to put an end to poverty throughout the planet. The campaign against hunger and poverty represents for the Church a powerful weapon to affirm the dignity and freedom of all mankind. The rich part of the world “must provide the resources to ensure that the societies prostrated by poverty be able to develop decent living conditions for man, and make sure that the necessary resources to make this happen be made available, says the bishops in their letter. The Bishops’ Conference recognises and appreciates “the commitment of the Dutch government to the realization of internationally assumed obligations on the theme of development; they therefore trust “that this commitment may be reached and even improved”, so that the Millennium Goals do not prove “vain promises”.
