Last week, Pope Francis reminded participants at an economic conference that man must
always be at the center of the economy. Otherwise, we find ourselves guilty of
an “anthropological reductionism.”
The Holy Father’s
predecessor, Saint John Paul II, constantly challenged people to embrace a person-centered
mentality. In his Centesimus Annus, he wrote:
Christian anthropology…is really a chapter
of theology, and for this reason, the Church's social doctrine, by its concern
for man and by its interest in him and in the way he conducts himself in the
world, “belongs to the field ... of theology and particularly of moral theology.” The theological dimension is needed
both for interpreting and solving present-day problems in human society.
Social issues crop up at the economic and political level when we lose
sight of the dignity of the human person, John Paul II warned us. Now Pope
Francis is echoing his cry.
Saint John Paul II, please pray for us, that we might be free of the sin
of reducing the human person to something less than what he is worth!
