At 12:30pm today, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the participants taking part in a Meeting organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
Illustrious Ladies and Gentlemen,
I cordially greet the members of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and those who are participating in these study days, as well as the institutions that are supporting this initiative. This draws attention to a highly relevant need for developing new models of cooperation between the market, the State and civil society, in relation to the challenges of our times. On this occasion, I wish to focus briefly on two specific causes that feed exclusion and the creation of existential peripheries.
The first is the endemic and systemic increase of inequalities and the exploitation of the planet, which is greater than the increase in income and wealth. Yet, inequality and exploitation are not the final word. They are not definite because they depend, apart from the individual behaviours, on the economic rules that a society decides to implement. We can consider energy production, the labour force, the banking system, welfare, fiscal systems, and even the scholastic sector. Depending on how these sectors are designed, there are various consequences to how income and wealth are shared among those who have contributed to producing them. If profit prevails, democracy tends to become a plutocracy in which inequalities and the exploitation of the planet grow. I repeat: this is not a necessity; there are times in which, in certain countries, inequalities can diminish and the environment is better protected.
Especially at this time, creating new work requires people who are open and enterprising, committed to fraternal relationships, research and investment in clean energy development in order to respond to the challenge of climate change. This is concretely possible today. What is needed is the riddance of pressure from public and private lobbyists who defend sectorial interests; and it is also necessary that you overcome various forms of spiritual laziness. Political action must truly be placed at the service of the human person, the common good and respect for nature.
The challenge that must be assumed is then a matter of courageously striving to go beyond today's prevailing social order, transforming yourselves from within. We must ask the market not only to be efficient in production of wealth and in assuring sustainable growth, but also to be at the service of integral human development. We cannot sacrifice at the altar of efficiency - the golden calf of our time - fundamental values such as democracy, justice, freedom, family and creation. In essence, we must strive to civilize the market, in the perspective of a friendly ethic of man and his environment.
An analogous argument might involve the rethinking of the figure and the role of the nation-State in a new context which is that of globalization, which has profoundly modified the previous international order. The State cannot conceive itself as the sole and exclusive holder of the common good, not allowing the intermediary bodies of civil society to freely express their full potential. This would be a violation of the principle of subsidiarity which, combined with solidarity, is the cornerstone of the Church's social doctrine. The challenge is to find ways to connect individual rights with the common good.
In this sense, the specific role of civil society is comparable to what Charles Péguy attributed to the virtue of hope: like a little sister in the middle of the other two virtues - faith and charity - holding them by the hand and pulling them forward. This, it would seem to me, is the role of civil society: to pull the State and the market forward so that they can rethink their reason for being and their mode of operation.
Dear friends, I thank you for your attention to my reflections. I invoke the Lord's blessing upon you, your loved ones and your work.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to participating in a meeting organized by
the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
Illustrious Ladies and Gentlemen,
I cordially greet the members of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and those who are participating in these study days, as well as the institutions that are supporting this initiative. This draws attention to a highly relevant need for developing new models of cooperation between the market, the State and civil society, in relation to the challenges of our times. On this occasion, I wish to focus briefly on two specific causes that feed exclusion and the creation of existential peripheries.
The first is the endemic and systemic increase of inequalities and the exploitation of the planet, which is greater than the increase in income and wealth. Yet, inequality and exploitation are not the final word. They are not definite because they depend, apart from the individual behaviours, on the economic rules that a society decides to implement. We can consider energy production, the labour force, the banking system, welfare, fiscal systems, and even the scholastic sector. Depending on how these sectors are designed, there are various consequences to how income and wealth are shared among those who have contributed to producing them. If profit prevails, democracy tends to become a plutocracy in which inequalities and the exploitation of the planet grow. I repeat: this is not a necessity; there are times in which, in certain countries, inequalities can diminish and the environment is better protected.
The other cause of exclusion is work that is unworthy of the human person. Yesteryear, in the era of Rerum novarum (1891), righteous merchandise was recalled. Today, in addition to this sacrosanct need, we also wonder why it has not yet been possible to translate into practice that which was written in the Constitution Gaudium et spes: The whole process of production must be adapted to the needs of the person and to his way of life (GS, 67) and - we might add with the Encyclical Laudato si' - in respect to creation, our common home.
Especially at this time, creating new work requires people who are open and enterprising, committed to fraternal relationships, research and investment in clean energy development in order to respond to the challenge of climate change. This is concretely possible today. What is needed is the riddance of pressure from public and private lobbyists who defend sectorial interests; and it is also necessary that you overcome various forms of spiritual laziness. Political action must truly be placed at the service of the human person, the common good and respect for nature.
The challenge that must be assumed is then a matter of courageously striving to go beyond today's prevailing social order, transforming yourselves from within. We must ask the market not only to be efficient in production of wealth and in assuring sustainable growth, but also to be at the service of integral human development. We cannot sacrifice at the altar of efficiency - the golden calf of our time - fundamental values such as democracy, justice, freedom, family and creation. In essence, we must strive to civilize the market, in the perspective of a friendly ethic of man and his environment.
An analogous argument might involve the rethinking of the figure and the role of the nation-State in a new context which is that of globalization, which has profoundly modified the previous international order. The State cannot conceive itself as the sole and exclusive holder of the common good, not allowing the intermediary bodies of civil society to freely express their full potential. This would be a violation of the principle of subsidiarity which, combined with solidarity, is the cornerstone of the Church's social doctrine. The challenge is to find ways to connect individual rights with the common good.
In this sense, the specific role of civil society is comparable to what Charles Péguy attributed to the virtue of hope: like a little sister in the middle of the other two virtues - faith and charity - holding them by the hand and pulling them forward. This, it would seem to me, is the role of civil society: to pull the State and the market forward so that they can rethink their reason for being and their mode of operation.
Dear friends, I thank you for your attention to my reflections. I invoke the Lord's blessing upon you, your loved ones and your work.
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