VATICAN (CNS): Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis, 2,000 young adults met, virtually, from November 19 to 21 for the global meeting of the Economy of Francesco project, sponsored in part by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, to discuss making the economy more responsive to human dignity and more respectful of creation.
The economists, entrepreneurs and “change-makers,” all of whom were under the age of 35, did not calling for an end to capitalism but for a way of doing business that focused on creating jobs, wealth and human flourishing without excluding anyone and without destroying the environment.
The young adults were joined by experts in their fields who offered encouragement and gave input on how to improve their projects and research.
Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi offered the young participants a virtual welcome to the city of St. Francis.
He said the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) may have moved the meeting into the virtual realm, but it has not dampened enthusiasm or curtailed commitments.
Paraphrasing St. Francis, Peter Cardinal Turkson, prefect of the dicastery, thanked the young participants “for bringing light into our dark world, for bringing love in these times of indifference, for bringing hope to many of us who are in despair, and for bringing faith in a different economy that can serve an inclusive and sustainable world.”
“Good wealth, is not measured simply by quantity; it “promotes integral human development while caring for our common home.”
The cardinal said, “The economy must serve people, not the other way around” and it should do so “by healing what hurts people, meaning inequality, corruption, individualism and all sorts of social illnesses related to the creation of ‘not so good’ wealth.”
He said, “Good wealth, is not measured simply by quantity; it “promotes integral human development while caring for our common home.”
Maria Carvalho, senior consultant for climate policy and carbon pricing at South Pole in London, said she joined because she wanted “a theological reorientation to what we do in the social sciences,” as well as a structure for interdisciplinary, holistic approaches to the problems of poverty, climate change, inequality and a lack of human flourishing.
She hopes for “a reorientation for all the brokenness in our world,” and a recognition of “the woundedness at an individual level, at a family level, at a societal level,” which makes it difficult for people to imagine a different way of living and acting.
“We have forgotten that God is a loving father who actually wants to be with us, who wants to heal, who wants to orient us to what is truly good, truly beautiful and truly true,” Carvalho said.
