Cardinal Urges New "Logic" in Fixing Economy

Recalls That System Is Made to Benefit Man

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).-A Vatican official is advocating a new "logic" for an economy and a financial system that have forgotten that the good of man and mankind should be the primary focus.

This was the observation made by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, in a Friday interview with Vatican Radio. The cardinal had just finished a meeting in Rome with experts from various countries regarding the current worldwide economic crisis.

The meeting was directed by Óscar de Rojas, director of the U.N. Financing for Development Office of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The group aimed to make proposals for the upcoming world meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.

According to Cardinal Martino, even with economic strain, governments should maintain their commitments regarding development. What needs to be changed, he said, is the "logic of the market."

This logic, the cardinal said, "was till now that of maximum gain, and therefore the most investments possible directed toward obtaining maximum benefit. And this, according to the social doctrine of the Church, is immoral," since the market "should be able to benefit not just those who invest capital, but also those who participate in the step of making it grow, that is, those who work."

In this sense, the pontifical council president added that "the financial collapse of recent weeks has led us to recognize ourselves as part of one humanity." He expressed his hope that "these events, which will continue affecting so many lives, make us find ourselves on a common path to increase the well-being of all peoples."

"All of us should collaborate in the good of all," Cardinal Martino added. "This is globalization: The ramification that this crisis has in the whole world, and on the other hand, the need that it imposes for solidarity with the poorest nations."

The cardinal noted that even eight years after the U.N. Millennium Declaration "too many families continue finding themselves obligated to emigrate, continue being oppressed by absolute poverty and continue living in countries where debt makes it impossible to achieve access to basic services, including potable water."
http://zenit.org/article-24077?l=english


ZE08102704 - 2008-10-27
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