Bono met the pope at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome Thursday, 100 days before the new millennium, along with other celebrities who included US music producer Quincy Jones, singer Willie Colon, the artist and founder of Live Aid Bob Geldof, Jeffrey Sachs of the Center for International Development at Harvard University, and former UN under secretary general Adebayo Adedeji, among others. The Jubilee 2000 Coalition groups more than 70 British NGOs and advocates a debt-free start to the millennium through a one-off cancellation of the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries by the year 2000.

"Poverty and gross inequalities remain widespread,despite enormous scientific and technological progress," the pope said.He regretted however that all too often, "the fruits of scientific and technological progress, rather than being placed at the service of the entire human community, are distributed in such a way that unjust inequalities are actually increased or even rendered permanent.

"The law of profit alone cannot be applied to that which is essential for the fight against hunger disease and poverty," he added.

Debt relief was only one aspect of the vaster task of fighting poverty, he said, adding that debt relief programs "must be accompanied by the introduction of sound economic policies and good governance."

The poor were paying "the cost of indecision and delay," he said.Pettifor appealed to the Vatican to prevail upon the world's leaders to meet again before the new year to cancel debts that result in the deaths of 20,000 children every day.