Spiritual leaders speak out on economic crisis

Some of the underreported news I found interesting this week included speeches by spiritual leaders, the Dalai Lama and Pope Benedict XVI.

Thursday the global news wire, Agence France-Press (AFP) reported on a speech the Dalai Lama made on Wednesday in Tallinn, Estonia.

“Greed, speculation and secrecy are some of the main causes of our current global problems,” the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate told thousands of Estonians gathered in Tallinn's Liberty Square for a public address titled “A Call for Universal Responsibility.”

 The Dalai Lama, nevertheless, insisted he remained optimistic about the future because he believes people learn from their mistakes.

On Thursday the Associated Press reported that “Pope Benedict XVI has denounced the profit-at-all-cost mentality that he says is behind Europe’s current economic crisis, and says morals and ethics must play a greater role in formulating economic policy in the future.

Benedict made the comments Thursday as he traveled to Madrid for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day, a weeklong Catholic event taking place against the backdrop of the European debt crisis, which has hit Spain hard.

The Pope said, ‘Man must be at the center of the economy and the economy must not be measured only by the maximization of profit but according to the common good.’”