VATICAN - Benedict XVI addresses the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation: “the financial crisis shows in a clear way how the economic and financial paradigms that have been dominant in recent years must be rethought”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The financial crisis that has struck the industrialized nations, the emergent nations and those that are developing, shows in a clear way how the economic and financial paradigms that have been dominant in recent years must be rethought. Your foundation has done well, then, to confront, in the international conference that took place yesterday, the theme of the pursuit and identification of the values and guidelines that the economic world must stick to in order to bring into being a new model of development that is more attentive to the demands of solidarity and more respectful of human dignity.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI in addressing members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, whom he received in an audience on June 13, on the occasion of the annual meeting.
The Holy Father expressed his satisfaction at the topics addressed in the Convention held the previous day, especially “the interdependency between institutions, society and the market, beginning -- in accord with the encyclical 'Centesimus Annus' of my venerable predecessor John Paul II -- from the reflection according to which the market economy...can only be recognized as a way of economic and civil progress if it is oriented to the common good (cf. No. 43). Such a vision, however, must also be accompanied by another reflection according to which freedom in the economic sector must situate itself 'within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality,' a responsible freedom 'the core of which is ethical and religious' (No. 42).”
Benedict XVI expressed his hope that the research developed by their work, “inspired by the eternal principles of the Gospel, will elaborate a vision of the modern economy that is respectful of the needy and of the rights of the weak.” He also mentioned that his next Encyclical on the vast theme of economics and labor will soon be published. “It will highlight what, for us Christians, are the objectives to be pursued and the values to be promoted and tirelessly defended, with the purpose of realizing a truly free and solidary human coexistence.”
Lastly, the Pope noted with pleasure what the Foundation is doing on behalf of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI), “to whose aim, an aim which you share, I attribute great value for an increasingly fruitful interreligious dialogue.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 15/6/2009)