Time for Fairness and Economic Justice; A Statement by the Center for Responsible...

Time for Fairness and Economic Justice; A Statement by the Center for
Responsible Lending

WASHINGTON, July 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by
the Center for Responsible Lending:

During the surge of media attention on today's historic meeting between Pope
Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama, it is important to note that only
days before His Holiness used his own moral authority to express concerns for
the current financial crisis.

In his encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), the Pope speaks to
the developments that led to the current global economic crisis, naming
badly-managed and short-sighted financial practices among its causes. He urges
financiers to "rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity".

Pope Benedict's words are a summons to bring a long-lacking ethos to today's
economic chaos and proposed remedies.

The Center for Responsible Lending has long-noted the absence of fairness and
clarity in a wide range of consumer finance issues. Prior to the economic
crisis, lenders reaped excessive fees making irresponsible loans to families
who could never repay them. When deceptive business practices have been met
with scant regulation, the world's people have suffered financially.

As leaders and citizens alike reflect on the significance of the papal meeting
with President Obama, it is also time for people of conscience to embrace
fairness, equality and openness in the quest for economic justice. Many
abusive financial practices continue to prevent families from achieving
economic security today and now is the time to act to end unethical lending
practices.

The full text of Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) is available online:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html

About the Center for Responsible Lending
The Center for Responsible Lending is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and
policy organization dedicated to protecting homeownership and family wealth by
working to eliminate abusive financial practices. CRL is affiliated with
Self-Help, one of the nation's largest community development financial
institutions.

SOURCE Center for Responsible Lending

Kathleen Day, +1-202-349-1871, kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org, or Ginna
Green, +1-510-379-5513, ginna.green@responsiblelending.org, or Charlene
Crowell, +1-919-313-8531, charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org, all of
Center for Responsible Lending