After
meeting with Pope Francis, Angela Merkel has called for stronger market
regulation. On Thursday, the pope had appealed for financial reform, saying the
economic crisis had worsened conditions for millions.
The German
chancellor spoke with the pope privately in his library for 45 minutes,
unusually long for a private papal audience. Afterward, she told reporters that
the scandals and excesses criticized by Francis earlier in the week showed that
regulatory measured had failed.
"Crises
have blown up because the rules of the social market have not been
observed," Merkel said. "We have made progress but we are nowhere
near a point where we could say that the kind of derailment that leads to
market crises could not happen again and so the issue will again play a central
role at the G20 meeting this year," she added. "It is true that
economies are there to serve people and that has by no means always been the
case in recent years."
In his
speech on Thursday, the pope had urged countries to protect their poorest
citizens. He said a "cult of money" tyrannized the poor.
"Pope
Francis made it clear that we need a strong, fair Europe, and I found the
message very encouraging," said Merkel, the leader of Germany's Christian
Democratic Union, which has strong Catholic support.
mkg/jr (Reuters, dpa, AP)
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