I am not going to Africa with a political or economic agenda, which would lie outside my competence. I am going with a programme that is religious, to do with faith and morals, but this too has an essential contribution to make to the problem of the current economic crisis.

We all know that a fundamental element of the crisis is the ethical deficit in economic structures. It has been understood that ethics is not something “outside” the economy, but “inside”, and that the economy does not function if it does not include the ethical element.

Therefore, speaking of God and speaking of the great spiritual values that constitute the Christian life, I will try to make my own contribution, which should also help to overcome the present crisis, and to renew the economic system from within, which is where the real crisis lies.

And of course I shall be appealing for international solidarity. The Church is Catholic, that is to say, universal, open to all cultures and all continents. She is present within all political systems and thus, for Catholicism, solidarity is an internal and fundamental principle. I should like to make an appeal first and foremost for Catholic solidarity, while also extending this to include the solidarity of all those who recognize their responsibility within today’s human society.

Obviously I shall be speaking of this in the Encyclical too: this is a reason for the delay. We were almost ready to publish it, when this crisis broke out, and we looked at the text again so as to respond more fully, within our particular competence, and within the social teaching of the Church, but with reference to the specific details of the current crisis. In this way I hope that the Encyclical can also be an element that helps to overcome the difficult situation of the present time.

(Benedict XVI, Press Conference on Flight to Cameroon, 17 March 2009)