Pope: man and not money at the heart of the economy
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Even the economy
must always put human dignity at the center, contrasting dynamics that tend to put
money above all else, to respond to the globalization of markets with the
globalization of solidarity. These were Pope Francis' comments to the World
Congress of Accountants and Business people in the Vatican Friday. The meeting gave
the Pope occasion on the centrality of the person which requires not only "concrete
answers to economic questions and materials, but which also must encourage and cultivate an ethics of
the economy, of finance, and of labour; you must keep alive the value of
solidarity as a moral attitude, an expression of care for others in all their
legitimate demands"
"The current
socio-economic climate - said the Pope - poses, in a pressing manner, the
question of work. The question of work: this is key. From your professional
observation, you are well aware of the dramatic reality of so many people whose
employment is precarious, or who have lost their jobs; of so many families that
pay the consequences; of so many young people seeking their first job and
dignified work. There are many of them, especially immigrants who, forced to
work "under the table", lack the most elementary juridical and economic
safeguards. In this context there is a great temptation to defend one's own
interests without being concerned with the common good, without paying too much
attention to justice and legality. And so, everyone - especially those who are
in a profession that deals with the proper functioning of the economic life of
a country - are called to play a positive, constructive role in the day-to-day
development of their own work, knowing that behind every identity card there is
a story, there are many faces.
The Christian professional every day "draws, from prayer and from the Word of God, the strength first of all to do their own work well, with competence and wisdom; and then "to go beyond," which means going to meet the person in difficulty; to exercise that creativity that allows you to find solutions for difficult situations; to value reasons of human dignity in the face of bureaucratic rigidity".
"Economy and finance are dimensions of human activity and can be occasions of encounter, of dialogue, of cooperation, of recognized rights and services rendered, of dignity affirmed in work. But for this it is necessary to always place the human person, with his dignity, at the centre, in contrast to the dynamics that tend to approve everything and place money at the summit. When money becomes the end and the reason of every activity and of every initiative, the utilitarian optic and the savage logic of profit, which does not respect persons, prevails, with the resulting widespread fall of the values of solidarity and respect for the human person. Those who in various positions in the economy and in finance are called to make choices that favour the social and economic wellbeing humanity as a whole, offering to all the opportunity to realize their own proper development".
"If we are to improve and hand on to future generations the environmental, economic, cultural, and social patrimony we have inherited, we are called to take up the responsibility to work for a globalization of solidarity: this word that risks being run out of the dictionary. "Solidarity." Solidarity is a duty that springs from the same network of interconnections that are developed with globalization. And the social doctrine of the Church teaches us that the principle of solidarity is implemented in harmony with that of subsidiarity. Thanks to the effects of these two principles, processes should be at the service of human beings and of the increase of justice, without which there can be no true and enduring peace".
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11/08/2017 20:05
