The bishops were invited to take part in the Jubilee 2000 campaign which would cancel some $214 billion in debt currently plaguing developing countries of the Third World. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. George Carey, has described the jubilee year as a contemporary version of the ancient Jubilee Year mentioned in the Book of Leviticus.

The Most Rev. Njongonkulu Ndungane, Archbishop of Capetown, addressed the plenary and said Jubilee 2000 is a vision for rich and poor nations.

"The scourge of crushing debt loads is not isolated in Africa and Latin America, but is tearing the social fabric of Asian and Eurasian countries," he said. "It also affects all of us everywhere, all who have become too dependent on credit cards.

"We all live in the grip of an economy which encourages over-lending and over-borrowing, an economy which drives relentlessly into debt. But the poorest, those with very little income to depend on, are not just in the grip of this economy. They are enslaved by it."

Archbishop Ndungane, who chairs the section of Lambeth studying international debt, later issued a statement calling international debt "the new slavery of the 20th century," and asking the rich countries to follow the example of the South African government and cancel debt.

"The human cost of the international debt burden is intolerable," Archbishop Ndungane said. "Its effects are evil and sinful. Leaders of Western nations remain complacent in the face of the vast human tragedy generated by unpayable debts."

Archbishop Carey, also equated international debt with slavery. He said it was a "moral problem of enormous proportions" for developing countries, and urged bishops to campaign for cancellation of the debt as a matter of justice.

The Rt. Rev. Peter Selby, Bishop of Worcester (England), was chair of the conference's subsection on international debt, and spoke strongly about the matter.

"For the sick and the orphaned and the widowed and the children who need food to see tomorrow, cancel the debt," he said. "Cancel the debt uncompromisingly and unconditionally. And we do not ask for charity or generosity. We are looking for simple justice."

Bishop Luiz Osorio Prado Pires of Pelotas (Brazil), added, "Debt cancellation will not change anything long term. There is a need for a new economic order."

The three-hour plenary also included a panel involving Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island.

Another speaker was Jim Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, who took issue with a Christian Aid video shown at the plenary.

"I'm upset because it paints a picture of our institution which is quite simply wrong," Mr. Wolfensohn said. "I work with 10,000 people in the bank who are committed to poverty eradication. We do not get up every morning and think what we can do to ruin the world."

He said the film's "characterization of the bank as the epicenter of debt problems which create all the problems of the world is neither fair nor correct."

Archbishop Carey looked to the future of the Anglican Communion when he addressed the Spouses' Program July 27. In a keynote presentation, "Together in God's Mission: The Vocation of the Anglican Communion in the 21st century," the archbishop asked what is distinctive about the Anglican Communion.

"Anglicans have made a fine contribution to making peace and building bridges between communities," he said. "But we shall only become a real Communion when we learn the lessons of sharing the suffering, the pain, and the distress of one another; the poverty and the denial of justice; along with the sharing of our riches and resources."

The archbishop spoke of the church's need to welcome people, care for them, ensure that they feel at home in worship, and relate the Anglican faith to the needs of people outside. He encouraged Anglicans, especially those in the West, to be less apologetic about being spiritual.

"The world wants us to speak of God, to speak of our faith, our love of God and the meaning of life and death," he said.

As the second full week of the conference unfolded, participants were to spend time in a plenary session on relations between Christians and Muslims, and on Tuesday, July 28, bishops headed to London to hear an address by Prime Minister Tony Blair, to participate in a garden party with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, and to cruise on the river Thames.