VATICAN - “Ethics is not a restriction for business, it is an opportunity which qualifies its efficiency and objectivity”: said Cardinal Martino at the end of an international Conference for Christian Business Executives. Soon available, Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching and Report on Poverty in the Era of Globalisation.

Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Moral values - such as social responsibility, solidarity, justice, a sense of the common good, protection of the environment, respect for human rights, valorisation of human capital - are not enemies of economic activity, instead they are its most trusted, albeit demanding, friends”. Cardinal Renato R. Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said in his address at the end of an International Conference for Christian Executives at the Council’s offices, 5 and 6 March, organised in collaboration with UNIAPAC (International Christian Union of Executives). “The Executive: responsibility social responsibility and globalisation ”.
Addressing about 80 representatives of the world of business (from 27 countries), the Cardinal said “to invest in ethics is one of the best ways to affirm economic and business rationality. Amorality, or worse, immorality in business does not lengthen the legs of companies it only makes them shorter and weaker, as scandals and crashes demonstrate”.
Cardinal Martino said he hoped that the Conference had “marked the end of a period of misunderstanding and equivocal interventions between the Church and the business world”, through positive consideration of market and profit and also unanimous condemnation of “market and profit idolatry ”, as anti-religious, inhuman and socially unsustainable.
Expressing the hope that those present would collaborate to ensure a warm welcome and diffusion of a “Compendium of Social Teaching” soon to be published, the President of Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace announced two other initiatives: the imminent publication of a “Report on Poverty in the Era of Globalisation”, to serve not only as a guide to understanding the phenomenon but also to identify possible solutions; the setting up of a work group to reflect on the subject of corruption, which he said is “a serious problem which paralyses business activity”.
Cardinal Martino concluded by assuring those present that the Pontifical Council will do all it can to encourage within the Church “more attention for the business reality and a wider promotion of Christian business associations”.
On the last day of the Conference the participants reflected on the following themes: personal development of workers and their necessary involvement in company events; the cultural impact of the policy of marketing and advertising. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 8/3/2004 - Righe 30; Parole 380)