Vatican City, Apr 30, 2010 / 10:52 am
The global economic crisis has shown not only the fragility of the system but also the flawed assumption that the market is capable of correcting itself, said the Pope on Friday. He added that economic questions should always maintain an appreciation for the human dimension.
Pope Benedict XVI spoke with participants in the 16th Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to inaugurate their five-day conference themed, "Crisis in a Global Economy. Re-planning the Journey."
Observing that "the worldwide financial breakdown has ... demonstrated the fragility of the present economic system and the institutions linked to it," the Holy Father explained that the crisis "has also shown the error of the assumption that the market is capable of regulating itself, apart from public intervention and the support of internalized moral standards."
At the root of this assumption, he continued, is "an impoverished notion of economic life as a sort of self-calibrating mechanism driven by self-interest and profit-seeking."