Money must serve, not rule, says Vatican

A new 15-page page document, jointly prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, was released today, calling for more regulation of markets and financial systems. They need a strong injection of morality and ethics, said the document, and universities and business schools were urged to educate the next generation of business leaders about ethics and not just profits.

The document goes on to say that profit for the sake of profit and not for the greater good is "illegitimate" and condemns what it called a "reckless and amoral culture of waste" that has marginalised "great masses of the world's population, deprived them of decent labour and left them without any means of escape". What is at stake, said the document, is the authentic well-being of a majority of the men and women of our planet who are at risk of being "excluded and marginalised" from development whilst "a minority exploits and reserves for itself substantial resources and wealth".

The document echoed past warnings by Pope Francis about the dangers of unbridled capitalism. Given the subtitle "Considerations for an Ethical Discernment Regarding Some Aspects of the Present Economic-Financial System," it underlines critiques Francis has made during his five-year papacy. Topics covered include the regulation of markets, speculation, credit, consumption, savings, fiscal system, offshore sites, public debt, and the banking system.

Full text at:

https://zenit.org/articles/the-holy-sees-new-document-on-the-economy-and-finance-every-economic-system-can-be-legitamite-if/