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ECOSOC president holds first ever meeting with Pope to advance humanitarian agenda

UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Néstor Osorio meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome, 13 April 2013.
Photographic Service, L'Osservatore Romano, Vatican
UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Néstor Osorio meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome, 13 April 2013.

ECOSOC president holds first ever meeting with Pope to advance humanitarian agenda

The president of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Néstor Osorio, met today with newly elected Pope Francis to discuss the global fight against poverty, the first time the head of the United Nations’ development body has ever met with a leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

The two focussed on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000, that seek to slash a host of social ills, including extreme poverty and hunger, diseases and lack of access to health care and universal primary education, all by 2015.

Mr. Osorio noted that ECOSOC, a founding UN Charter body which focuses on the economic, social and environmental challenges facing the world, works with many UN agencies that collaborate with faith based organizations to tackle humanitarian and developments needs around the globe.

He voiced the hope that the Vatican can see in the Council a useful platform to pursue its efforts towards a fair international order, noting that many of the UN’s humanitarian targets echo calls made by the Holy See to build a more humane world for all.