Every signature for our new petition on the global debt crisis in 2026 will help to make a difference, as we call for more ambitious action from the UK government.
Low-income countries are being pushed into a deepening debt crisis, forced to pay ever higher interest rates to wealthy lenders. Money that should be spent on healthcare, education and coping with the climate crisis is flowing out of countries that can least afford it. Governments across the global south have an impossible choice between serving their people or paying their creditors. Every day this continues, millions are suffering the effects.
Countries often had no choice, have often paid back the debt several times over but will never clear the debt because of extortionate interest rates.
The global debt campaign in 2025, the Jubilee Year, was about building a case for urgent action. 45,000 CAFOD supporters signed our petition and over 1000 emailed their MP. We worked with others around the world, especially in the Caritas network, to push this issue into the spotlight.
This year we need to continue to push. We are calling on the UK government to take ambitious action:
1. Pass legislation to require private lenders to participate in debt relief so they can no longer make huge profits from countries struggling with unsustainable debts.
2. Use the UK’s G20 presidency to bring governments together to fix the broken global debt system and guarantee fast, fair and effective debt relief for countries in crisis.
Hold a petition signing in your parish
Please hold a petition signing in your parish, any time from 1 May to 1 September. All the resources you need are below.
Order parish resources from the CAFOD Shop or download them below.
If you would like to put an announcement in your parish bulletin here is a suggestion:
"At the end of Mass today we are collecting signatures for a CAFOD petition about the global debt crisis, which is causing terrible suffering for our brothers and sisters around the world. Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla from South Sudan has written to parishes in England and Wales to explain. Please stop for a minute as you leave and lend your support. Thank you for helping to build a better world."
Learn more about the debt crisis
Commissioned by Pope Francis, this report has a clear and urgent goal: to help build a global economy that serves people, especially the most vulnerable, and leaves no one behind.
"Shouldn't all debts just be repaid?" Read the answer to this and other questions about the global debt crisis.
Senior Church figures are calling for urgent action on the global debt crisis because of the devastating impact it is having on ordinary people across the world.
