Pope Francis on Thursday called on world leaders to put an end to the "cult of money" and to do more to help the poor, warning that insecurity was rising in many regions of the world and the "joy of life" was diminishing in developed countries. "The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal," Francis said in an address to ambassadors to the Vatican.

The Group of Seven advanced economies smoothed over US-European differences at a weekend meeting on how to balance deep austerity measures with ways to support fragile growth. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors also pledged Saturday their commitment to tackling tax evasion on the second of two days of talks in the English countryside, British finance minister George Osborne said. The G7 additionally vowed not to intentionally set out to weaken currencies, after the yen on Friday hit its lowest point against the dollar in more than four years.

European stock markets dipped slightly into the red on Monday as eurozone finance ministers met to discuss ways to clamp down on tax-fraud, while the euro and dollar hit fresh multi-year highs versus the yen. In afternoon trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies dropped 0.08 percent in value compared with Friday's close to stand at 6,619.81 points. Frankfurt's DAX 30 slipped 0.08 percent to 8,272.13 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.35 percent to 3,939.89. Madrid slumped 1.13 percent and Milan lost 0.76 percent.

The Group of Seven advanced economies on Saturday appeared to smooth over US-European differences on how to balance deep austerity measures with ways to support fragile growth. G7 finance ministers and central bankers also pledged their commitment to tackling tax evasion during two days of talks in the English countryside, British finance minister George Osborne said.