When the flow of people is put "at the service of the flow of capital," the result is the exploitation of employees "as if they were objects to be used and discarded," Francis said, quoting his environmental encyclical, Laudato Si.
God, he added, "will hold us accountable for the slaves of our day, and we must do everything to make sure that these situations do not happen again."
Francis noted that some people object to the social doctrine of the Church, saying it reduces business to mere charity organizations or "philanthropic institutions."
However, he stressed, the "only aspiration of the Church's Social Doctrine is to guard over the integrity of people and social structures."
"Every time that, for whatever reason, this integrity is threatened or reduced to a consumer good, the Church's Social Doctrine will be a prophetic voice to protect us all from being lost in the seductive sea of ambition," he said.
Pope Francis warned that each time a person's integrity is violated, it begins a process of declination for society as a whole. Therefore, every sector of society is obliged look out for the good of everyone.
"We are all in the same boat. We all have to struggle to make sure that work is a humanizing moment which looks to the future," he said, and asked those present what kind of world and what kind of Mexico they want to leave for their children.
"Do you want to leave them the memory of exploitation, of insufficient pay, of workplace harassment? Or do you want to leave them a culture which recalls dignified work, a proper roof, and land to be worked?"
He also asked whether they would leave behind air "tainted by corruption, violence, insecurity and suspicion, or, on the contrary, an air capable of generating alternatives, renewal and change?"
Francis acknowledged that the issues he raised are not easy to face, but said that leaving the future in the hands of corruption, brutality and inequity would be worse.
Even though it's difficult to bring different sides together to negotiate, more harm is done by refusing to negotiate, the Pope said. He added that while getting along can be hard in an increasingly competitive world, it would be worse if society allows this competition to destroy people.
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"Profit and capital are not a good over and above the human person; they are at the service of the common good," he said. When the common good is used only to serve profit and capital, "the only thing gained is known as exclusion."
Francis closed his speech by inviting the citizens of Mexico to build a country "that your children deserve; a Mexico where no one is first, second or fourth; a Mexico where each sees in the other the dignity of a child of God."