Pope Francis calls on entrepreneurs to be ‘prophets’

By AC Wimmer

CNA Newsroom, Oct 17, 2022 / 07:15 am

Pope Francis on Monday called on entrepreneurs to be “prophets“ and to continue to transform the economy.

“We are living in an era of notorious economic and social imbalances,” the pope told members of two Spanish associations of entrepreneurs at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Oct. 17.

It was “urgent to propose a suitable economy to contribute to solving the great problems we are experiencing on a global level,” he added.

Quoting from a passage on economic and social life in a key document of Vatican II, Pope Francis said: “While a few enjoy very great power of choice, the majority are deprived of almost all possibility of acting on their own initiative and responsibility, and often subsist in living and working conditions unworthy of the human person.”

The pontiff told the entrepreneurs he had three ideas to propose to them on their journey, the first being “prophecy.”

“Without prophecy, the economy, and in general all human action, is blind. “

Pope Francis said: “In a context as complex as the present one, characterized by war and environmental crisis, it is up to you to develop your service, let us say, as prophets who proclaim and build the common home, respecting all forms of life, caring for the good of all and promoting peace.”

Pope Francis said the second aspect was to care for one’s relationship with God.

An economic conversion for the good becomes possible when people experience a conversion of the heart, he told members of the Confederación Española de Asociaciones de Jóvenes Empresarios and the Confederación de Empresarios de Galicias.

“As the earth, when it is well-cultivated and cared for, bears abundant fruits, so also we, when we cultivate spiritual health, when we have a well-cared relationship with the Lord, we begin to bear many good fruits.”

The third thought the pope shared with the entrepreneurs on Monday was about “work and poverty.”

“It is possible to create an economy that reconciles the members of the various stages of production with one another, without mutual contempt, without creating greater injustice or cold indifference,” the pope said.

Work then can contribute “to dignify your fellow men,” Pope Francis said. 

He concluded by entrusting the entrepreneurs to the protection of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph. 

“They knew how to take care of your family and your home with the heart of fathers. May they intercede for you, so that the Lord may also grant you maternal and paternal love to care for the human family and the common home.”

AC Wimmer is founding Editor-in-Chief of CNA Deutsch. The multilingual Australian, raised in Bavaria and South Africa, held senior roles at Australia's SBS and served as editor-in-chief of the historic Münchner Kirchenzeitung. A graduate in Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, Anian Christoph Wimmer — Chinese name 刘威猛 — sat on the jury of the Media Award of the German Bishops’ Conference, is a former Honorary Research Fellow in Communications at the University of Melbourne and served on the Board of Caritas in Munich.