Pope Benedict XVI called Tuesday for the Group of 20 big economies meeting in London this week to address global poverty.
In a message to G20 host British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Benedict called on participants to unite in helping the world's poor, dpa reported.
He said his recent visit to Africa earlier this month had emphasized how much "the weak suffer due to a crisis about which they can do nothing."
"A key element of the current economic crisis is the deficit of ethics in the financial world," the pope said, calling for strong international solidarity and ethics in financial markets.