The Conscience Of The Manager

In the spirit of St. John Paul II’s social encyclical Centesimus Annus, Pope Francis made remarks last week about the importance of solidarity and subsidiarity. As a challenge to those who work in business, the Holy Father said:

The conscience of the manager is the existential place in which this search takes place. In particular, the Christian entrepreneur must always measure the reality in which he works with the Gospel; and the Gospel requires him to make the human person and the common good his first priority, and to do his part to ensure there are opportunities for work, for dignified work. Naturally this 'enterprise' cannot be implemented in isolation, but rather in collaboration with others who share the same ethical foundation, and seeking to widen the network as far as possible.

Pope Francis encouraged those who work in business to seek nourishment from the Church in order to bring Catholic social principles about in their own field.

St. John Paul II, pray for us, especially all business owners, that they may truly live out the Gospel in the workplace. 

The Authentic Development Of Man

During his pontificate, Blessed John Paul II did much to promote and sustain the rich social tradition of the Church, which is always “directed towards an authentic development of man and society which would respect and promote all dimensions of the human person…” (Sollicitudo rei socialis, 1).

In 1987, the late Holy Father released Sollicitudo rei socialis (SRS), an encyclical reflecting on Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio. Here Blessed John Paul II contemplates the teaching of the past and renews it in light of contemporary challenges, proposing a vision of authentic human development.

One of the most important things about SRS is that it proposes a vision of development that goes beyond the material needs of those in poorer countries. According to the late Holy Father, there are cultural forms of poverty that are even more disturbing than economic forms:

These are illiteracy, the difficulty or impossibility of obtaining higher education, the inability to share in the building of one's own nation, the various forms of exploitation and of economic, social, political and even religious oppression of the individual and his or her rights, discrimination of every type, especially the exceptionally odious form based on difference of race. If some of these scourges are noted with regret in areas of the more developed North, they are undoubtedly more frequent, more lasting and more difficult to root out in the developing and less advanced countries (15).

Blessed John Paul II echoes Paul VI, noting that there is a difference between “having” and “being.” “To ‘have’ objects and goods does not in itself perfect the human subject, unless it contributes to the maturing and enrichment of that subject’s ‘being,’” or that person’s vocation (28).