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Pope Francis’ greeting to Pope Francis’ greeting to managing directors and employees of major companies and banks
Saturday, 15 June 2024
I am pleased to welcome you all, managers and employees of large companies and banks.
The work that you are called to do is becoming increasingly important, not only in economic but also in social and political life.
Large companies are entities which influence the dynamics of international relations.
They take decisions that affect thousands and thousands of workers and investors, and you do so increasingly on a global scale. Economic power is intertwined with political power.
In addition to choices about consumption, savings and production, large companies also influence the fortunes of governments, national and international public policies and the sustainability of development.
You experience this reality, because “you are immersed in it”, this is your world.
But it is not enough to experience it: you need to become aware of it, to look at it critically, with discernment, so that you can take full responsibility for the direct and indirect effects of your choices. For today, more than ever, the economy is greater than economics.
In this context, I would like to focus briefly on three challenges, namely, caring for the environment, the poor, and young people.
First of all, I urge you to place the environment and the earth at the center of your attention and responsibility.
We are living in a time of serious environmental crisis which depends on many individuals and factors, including past and present economic and business decisions.
It is no longer enough to simply comply with the laws of governments that are too slow to act:
we need to innovate by anticipating the future, with courageous and forward-looking choices that can be emulated. The innovation of the entrepreneur nowadays must first and foremost be innovation in caring for our common home.
Second: do not forget the poorest and the discarded.
A “circular economy” has become a key term, calling for the reuse and recycling of waste.
Yet while we recycle materials and their wastes, we have not yet learned – if I may use the expression – to “recycle” and not discard people and workers, especially the most vulnerable, to whom the culture of waste often applies.
It is important that you be wary of a certain “meritocracy” that is used to legitimize the exclusion of the poor, who are judged as undeserving, even to the point of viewing poverty itself as their fault.
And let us not be satisfied with a little philanthropy, that would be insufficient.
The challenge is to involve the poor in business, to make them resources for the benefit of all.
This is possible. I dream of a world in which the discarded can become protagonists of change, yet it seems to me that Jesus has already `chieved this, don’t you think??
Third: young people.
Young people are often among the poor of our time: poor in resources, poor in opportunities and poor in the future.
Paradoxically, this is the case both in places where there are many of them but no resources, and in places where there are fewer and fewer of them – as in Italy, for example, where no children are being born – but where resources are available.
We do not learn any profession without “corporate hospitality”, which means generously welcoming young people even if they lack the necessary experience and skills, because any profession can only be learned by doing.
I encourage you, then, to be generous, to welcome young people into your companies to give them a glimpse of the future so that an entire generation does not lose hope.
Dear friends, you have a great and noble responsibility.
May the Lord help you to exercise it well in order to make courageous choices, in favor of the environment, the poor and young people.
This will be a very fruitful investment, also an economic terms.
I thank you for what you are doing: you are pioneers, do not be discouraged, but continue to be pioneers. Please pray for me. I bless all of you, your businesses, your hopes and your work.
I bless you all. Thank you.
Saturday, 15 June 2024
I am pleased to welcome you all, managers and employees of large companies and banks.
The work that you are called to do is becoming increasingly important, not only in economic but also in social and political life.
Large companies are entities which influence the dynamics of international relations.
They take decisions that affect thousands and thousands of workers and investors, and you do so increasingly on a global scale. Economic power is intertwined with political power.
In addition to choices about consumption, savings and production, large companies also influence the fortunes of governments, national and international public policies and the sustainability of development.
You experience this reality, because “you are immersed in it”, this is your world.
But it is not enough to experience it: you need to become aware of it, to look at it critically, with discernment, so that you can take full responsibility for the direct and indirect effects of your choices. For today, more than ever, the economy is greater than economics.
In this context, I would like to focus briefly on three challenges, namely, caring for the environment, the poor, and young people.
First of all, I urge you to place the environment and the earth at the center of your attention and responsibility.
We are living in a time of serious environmental crisis which depends on many individuals and factors, including past and present economic and business decisions.
It is no longer enough to simply comply with the laws of governments that are too slow to act:
we need to innovate by anticipating the future, with courageous and forward-looking choices that can be emulated. The innovation of the entrepreneur nowadays must first and foremost be innovation in caring for our common home.
Second: do not forget the poorest and the discarded.
A “circular economy” has become a key term, calling for the reuse and recycling of waste.
Yet while we recycle materials and their wastes, we have not yet learned – if I may use the expression – to “recycle” and not discard people and workers, especially the most vulnerable, to whom the culture of waste often applies.
It is important that you be wary of a certain “meritocracy” that is used to legitimize the exclusion of the poor, who are judged as undeserving, even to the point of viewing poverty itself as their fault.
And let us not be satisfied with a little philanthropy, that would be insufficient.
The challenge is to involve the poor in business, to make them resources for the benefit of all.
This is possible. I dream of a world in which the discarded can become protagonists of change, yet it seems to me that Jesus has already `chieved this, don’t you think??
Third: young people.
Young people are often among the poor of our time: poor in resources, poor in opportunities and poor in the future.
Paradoxically, this is the case both in places where there are many of them but no resources, and in places where there are fewer and fewer of them – as in Italy, for example, where no children are being born – but where resources are available.
We do not learn any profession without “corporate hospitality”, which means generously welcoming young people even if they lack the necessary experience and skills, because any profession can only be learned by doing.
I encourage you, then, to be generous, to welcome young people into your companies to give them a glimpse of the future so that an entire generation does not lose hope.
Dear friends, you have a great and noble responsibility.
May the Lord help you to exercise it well in order to make courageous choices, in favor of the environment, the poor and young people.
This will be a very fruitful investment, also an economic terms.
I thank you for what you are doing: you are pioneers, do not be discouraged, but continue to be pioneers. Please pray for me. I bless all of you, your businesses, your hopes and your work.
I bless you all. Thank you.
