Pope Francis: Money should serve and not govern

This morning Pope Francis received at the Vatican the participants of the “Dialogues for an integrally sustainable finance”, to whom he insisted on the need for the poor to have the necessary tools to recover their dignity through work.

During his speech from the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican this June 3, the Holy Father thanked the efforts of this project, promoted by the Foundation 100th Year For the Popeto maintain a dialogue “between finance, humanism and religion.”

The Pontiff highlighted the importance of people without resources being able to recover their dignity through work and warned that “money should serve and not govern.”

Furthermore, he recalled one of the premises of his Encyclical Laudato yes: “Helping the poor with money should always be a temporary remedy to deal with emergencies.”

He also highlighted that the participants in these dialogues have set themselves “a noble task: combining effectiveness and efficiency with comprehensive sustainability, inclusion and ethics,” making the Social Magisterium of the Church their “compass.”

For this to really happen, the Holy Father explained that it is necessary to be able “to observe how finances work, expose weak points and imagine concrete corrective measures.”

He specified that knowledge of financial processes requires at the same time a responsibility to “find out how to reduce inequality,” and reiterated that “a financial reform that does not ignore ethics would require a vigorous change of attitude on the part of political leaders.” .

He also assured that it is necessary to work on three levels: thinking, concreteness and valuing the good, as well as never losing sight of concreteness, “because the fate of the poorest, of the people who struggle to find the means for a dignified life.”

Pope Francis placed his hope that other financial centers will continue on the path started by these experts, “promoting a model of dialogue that spreads and generates a paradigm shift.”

“Indeed, the technocratic paradigm remains dominant; A new culture is necessary, capable of accommodating adequately solid ethics, culture and spirituality,” he added.

Finally, he encouraged them “to continue and spread this method and this style” and stressed that “dialogue is always the best way, also to improve the common home.”