Catholic Business

Finance in the service of society

Pope Benedict XVI on the Financial Industry, in Caritas in Veritate: 

Finance, therefore — through the renewed structures and operating methods that have to be designed after its misuse, which wreaked such havoc on the real economy — now needs to go back to being an instrument directed towards improved wealth creation and development. ... Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers. ... If love is wise, it can find ways of working in accordance with provident and just expediency, as is illustrated in a significant way by much of the experience of credit unions. (#65)

What would George Bailey do?  Take a look at this video: 

Finance and ethics...

Pope Benedict, in Caritas in Veritate, wrote: 

What should be avoided is a speculative use of financial resources that yields to the temptation of seeking only short-term profit, without regard for the long-term sustainability of the enterprise, its benefit to the real economy and attention to the advancement, in suitable and appropriate ways, of further economic initiatives in countries in need of development (#40).

Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers. Right intention, transparency, and the search for positive results are mutually compatible and must never be detached from one another (#65).

David P. Goldman, in First Things' Spengler blog, writes today:

A close look at the circumstances of the bank bailout of the past year, particularly the government’s decision to pay out AIG’s guarantees of other banks’ subprime derivative at 100 cents on the dollar, might reveal embezzlement on the grand scale. ... [more]

Courage to Adhere to the Faith of the Church

Pope Benedict, in his homily during the first vespers of the Solemnity for the closing of the Pauline year, on Monday, may have been giving a preview of the main themes of his forthcoming encyclical, according to NCR journalist John L. Allen, Jr. 

In essence: no renewal of the world without personal, spiritual renewal. 

The Pope's homily is here and Allen's article, with several extracts from the homily, and much editorializing, is here.

Forthcoming papal encyclical

Dr. Robert Moynihan, editor of Inside the Vatican, is writing a series of "newsflashes" in anticipation of Pope Benedict's social encyclical, due out on or around June 29th., in an "attempt to sketch ... a context within which the encyclical may be read."

The first piece is about the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice conference I wrote about in my last post:

http://www.insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2009/newsflash-jun-16-09.htm

The second (scroll down to "Concerning the upcoming encyclical") is about the work of Fr. Mario Toso, who apparently advised the Holy Father on this encyclical:

http://www.insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2009/newsflash-jun-19-09.htm

Papal address to educators at the Catholic University of America

I was delighted to be able to attend the Holy Father's address to educators during his visit to the Catholic University of America.  The text of his address, which is a must-read for all Catholic educators, can be found here.  

The National Catholic Register's article on the Pope's address, by star reporter Tim Drake, is here.