Pope to Bankers: Promote Life, Solidarity, Subsidiarity and the Common Good

By Deacon Keith Fournier
12/14/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

A counterfeit approach to 'supply and demand' can end up commoditizing even babies

In the midst of challenging economic times, Catholics have a vital role to play in bringing the values which humanize banking to the forefront. When a society fails to recognize that persons are more important than things it can devolve into a form of practical materialism, worshipping a new golden calf. Freedom is a good of the person. At the heart of a "free market" are free persons. Human persons and the families which they form must be the primary concern of economic theory and practice.

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

VATICAN CITY, (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday, December 10, 2012 Pope Benedict XVI received Catholics involved in the banking industry in Italy in an audience. They were leaders from the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives and the Italian Federation of Cooperative Credit Banks. He affirmed the important insights contained in one of the Social Encyclicals, Leo XIII's Encyclical "Rerum novarum", written 120 years ago.

The Pope reminded the bankers that the letter "favored the fruitful presence of Catholics in Italian society through the promotion of cooperative and mutual societies, the development of social enterprises and many other public works characterized by various forms of participation and self-management. The purpose of such activity has always been to provide material support for people and constant attention to families, drawing inspiration from the Magisterium of the Church.".

He told them "the heart of cooperative efforts has always lain in the search for harmony between the individual and community dimensions. This is a concrete expression of the complementarity and subsidiarity which Church social doctrine has always sought to promote between citizens and the State, a balance between safeguarding the rights of the individual and promoting the common good."

He urged them to develop "a local economy capable of responding to community needs. Cooperative activities are likewise characterized by their great concern for solidarity, while still respecting the due autonomy of the individual.In a period of great change, of persistent economic uncertainty, and of difficulties in the world of work, the Church feels the need to announce Christ's message with renewed vigor. ... And you, dear friends, must be aware that Catholic cooperatives have an important role to play in this field".

The Pope asked Catholics in Banking "to ensure that the economy and the market never neglect solidarity, to promote a culture of life and the family, and to favor the creation of new families with access to dignified work which respects the creation that God has entrusted to our responsibility and care". He urged them "to value man in his entirety, irrespective of any difference in race, language or religion".

He praised Catholic cooperatives, affirming their "Christian inspiration, which must constantly guide them." He noted that "for Christians loving others is not mere philanthropy but an expression of the love of God." He urged them to "Never forget the importance of developing this spiritual dimension as you seek to respond to contemporary challenges and social emergencies, in order to continue to work in the logic of gratuitousness and responsibility, promoting wise and sober consumption".

How I wish that Catholics involved in the banking industry in the United States were in that audience.. In the midst of our challenging economic times, Catholics have a vital role to play in bringing the values which humanize banking to the forefront. When a society fails to recognize that persons are more important than things it can devolve into a form of practical materialism, worshipping a new golden calf.

It is politically incorrect in some circles to suggest a connection between our financial struggles and the moral collapse of our culture. Yet that is precisely my claim. When a culture has allowed the human person to become a commodity, a thing to be disposed of or used, we have lost our moral compass.

When the promotion of authentic human rights, human freedom, increased participation, the well being of the family and human flourishing are no longer the foundational concerns of economic policy we have lost our way. Freedom is a good of the person. At the heart of a "free market" are free persons. Human persons and the families which they form must be the primary concern of economic theory and practice.

A counterfeit approach to 'supply and demand' can end up commoditizing even babies. The consumer is told they have a "right" to select them, design them, and reject them, at will. The "medical professional", who knows that the one being killed is a human person, responds to this consumer driven approach to birth with killing. There is no "Right" to take innocent human life. It is always wrong no matter what the positive law declares. It violates the Natural Law and we all know it.

When a society fails to recognize that persons are more important than things - it may still use the language of human rights but it has emptied the words of moral content. When there is no recognition of the preeminent right to life what follows is an erosion of the entire structure of human rights. Failing to recognize our first neighbors in the womb as having a right to be born and to live a full life in our community is a failure of our obligation in solidarity.

Mother Teresa put it clearly: "America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships.

"It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters.

"And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

We need a Moral recovery if we hope to have a lasting economic recovery. The Pope's words to the Italian bankers are timely and bear serious reflection by all Catholics involved in banking.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Pope benedict XVI, economics, banking, bankers, subsidiarity, solidarity, finances, Deacon Keith Fournier

NEWSLETTERS »

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 7 of 7 Comments

Andrew
1 year ago
The Deacon is absolutely right. The old maxim is that grace, that is to say the supernatural life, builds upon and perfects nature. The human legal system, the financial system, are all temporal realities, subject to natural law. They are governed by the nature of things--the natural law, and there is no such thing as a divine banking system or divine legal system on this earth. Unlike the Muslims, we do not support a theocracy, and distinguish between the things of Caesar and the things of God. All men--believers or not--are bound by natural moral realities, which are equally part of the supernatural world of God. As St. Thomas notes, the natural law is nothing but the eternal law as it relates to creation, and specifically man. It is true that a life of pure nature is not intended for us, and to some extent, it is artificial to divide up the world into natural law and the supernatural life. But the reality is also that the supernatural life is not owed to us in justice, and that God could have--without any injustice--have left us to a completely natural destiny. That God did not, but instead made us partakers in his inner life, is nothing but sheer gift, sheer grace, a sheer undeserved boon. The natural life has ends subordinate to the supernatural, but it has a dignity and an end of its own. To accuse Benedict XVI, an intensely spiritual man, of naturalism is simply an untenable accusation.
Deacon Keith Fournier
1 year ago
To Janet and Abey: Read this wonderful man more carefully. Pope Benedict XVI regularly writes and proclaims the supernatural as well. He is a man of deep prayer and a great theologian and teacher. Here he is making a Natural Law argument. The Catholic vision does not see a separation between the natural and the Supernatural. The Natural Law is God's Law which can be known by all men and women through the exercise of reason. That is also what St Paul argues in Romans 1. It has been a part of Christian teaching from the beginning. Of course, it is incomplete and is expounded upon and fully revealed in Revelation - the fullness of that Revelation is the Incarnation. The Word Became Flesh. In Jesus Christ, the fullness of God's Loving plan is revealed. Please, look deeper and do not fall into this dichotomy. Get the book entitled "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church" and Feast on the beauty of the teaching of Christ's Church. That is also why Abeys contrast between the spirit and "the body" is also off. Jesus took our entire human nature, including the body and it has all been redeemed. We will be raised bodily. The scripture warns against "the flesh" - that refers to the effects of sin and our disordered passions which we still struggle with. Please, pray, read the Bible and the catechism and study the teaching of the Church more fully on these matters. It is wonderful.
Andrew
1 year ago
I see it in the practice of law as I do in banking. Something which is really a res publica, a public thing, is abused for private gain. In the case of lawyers, it is the legal system. In the case of bankers, it is the financial system.
Janet Baker
1 year ago
As a matter of fact, now I understand abey's comment, because she or he is saying the same thing I saId in the other post. He has left the spirit out of it. He has used nothing but reason. All his points are points in the natural world, the physical world. There is no supernatural there. This is the new Catholicism since the council, and it is wrong, so many scholars have petitioned that the Council be revisited and corrected from its wrong direction. We don't need more natural, we need and crave and long for and commit suicide over the supernatural! We need the hope of eternal life to be good!
Janet Baker
1 year ago
Of course the Holy Father is right, capitalism is absolutely predatory now. The number of scams and abuses are legion. You cannot buy anything safely, the laws protecting us have been quietly changed in favor of the rich. There was a news report complete with graphic photos about four years ago in Mexico of a couple who sold the organs of their new born child on the organ black market. It's that bad now. But the Holy Father's advice is completely empty! All societies are predatory by nature, since original sin! It is why Christ became man, and then offered Himself as a living sacrifice, and founded the Church to give us the necessary tools to combat the effects of original sin. We have confession. We have the Eucharist! We have marriage, a tool to help us be faithful. We have all these sources of grace to help make us, if we cooperate with that grace, just an ounce more honest, an eighth of an inch more faithful. Thus says the catechism. Does the Holy Father think that bankers can be good just by listening to his speech and *resolving* to do so? Is this what Benedict, that enthusiastic participant in the debacle of Vatican II, believes about human nature? It is what the Council taught, of course. All religions 'participate in salvation,' even apparently the banker religion. All they have to do is *decide* to be good. It does not work that way! That is not Catholicism! They must, first, convert their hearts to Christ, they must receive baptism, they must begin to receive the sacraments and to really pray, and then maybe, maybe, eight or ten of them will change their ways and that will be a *beginning.* If virtue were so easy, we'd not be in this mess. Why is he wasting his moments on this empty psychobabble! God save the Church and help SSPX in their battle against nonsense like this speech.
Rob
1 year ago
Sadly, the "market makers" have stopped valuing the human person long ago. An economy for the good of the human family, there has been nothing like that in my life time. Seems the name of the game in my adult life has been profit, profit, profit no matter the cost. Consume, consume, consume no matter the cost. As sad as it is for me to say this, when folks do not even know who they are (a creation made in the image of God the creator of all), how in the world will they see clearly enough to see through the horrors of abortion. I too wish our bankers were in that audience. They have wreaked havoc on our world economy and because we are too enamored with the golden calf, we refuse to regulate them and are basically telling them, please, come back and steal the rest. And they will.
abey
1 year ago
In this sinful life where the body leads the spirit, the body does not necessarily give what the Spirit wants, not in union. It needs to change the other way like that of Jesus Christ, for the source of the body is dust whereas the source of the spirit is life. Unless this basic truth is understood in its application to life, nothing good can come about. A simple explanation is of the manner "Where the mind is to knowledge the Spirit is to recognition for in it is all the knowledge".

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment

More Business & Economics News

Featured News

Disclaimer: The columns, articles, advertisers claims and any other features provided on Catholic Online Business & Economics are provided for personal finance and investment information and are not to be construed as investment advice. Under no circumstances does the information in this content represent a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The views and opinions expressed in an article or column are the author's own and not necessarily those of Catholic Online and there is no implied endorsement by Catholic Online of any advice or trading strategy.