Bertone Tarcision Cardinal slams IMF and World Bank "usury"

     In a hard-hitting interview with an Italian magazine, the Holy See's incoming secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has described World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans to developing countries as "usury."

     In the same interview, Cardinal Bertone also commented that he considered international lending by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and by richer countries a form of usury that "should be declared illegal."

     He said loans become usury when they violate the right to life and other basic human rights.

    "Some technocrats, especially those of multinationals, the World Bank and the (International) Monetary Fund, have imposed unacceptable conditions on the poor populations, like forced sterilization and obligatory closing of Catholic schools," he said.

     He said the church's social teaching calls for a "popular democratic capitalism" that benefits the greatest number of people and favors economic creativity and healthy competition.

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