(ANSA) - Rome, February 26 - Italy is "an anxious country"
where economic woes make it difficult for citizens to build for
their future, the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference
(CEI) Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said Thursday.
"We see first-hand and on a daily basis how large numbers
of families continue to be beset by difficulties" and "struggle
to make ends meet", said Bagnasco during the presentation of the
CEI's social microcredit project Loans of Hope.
"Our youth and those who are not so young know the bitter
experience of feeling useless and destabilised because they are
without employment and sure prospects," the cardinal continued.
"Many of our businesses, whose vitality is decisive for
restoring competitivity to the country, are worn down on various
fronts, when they are not forced to surrender," Bagnasco said.
"The economic crisis continues even if on a European level
there are signs that are considered positive and promising.
"The news of the approval by the European Commission of the
stability law is an encouraging signal and at the same time an
admonishment to enact reform," he concluded.
Since its launch in 2009 Loans of Hope has provided
microcredit to 4,500 needy families to a total of 26 million
euros.
Families in the southern regions of Campania and Puglia and
in northern Lombardy have been the biggest recipients of
support.
Bagnasco laments ongoing economic crisis
Many families ?still beset by difficulties?, cardinal says