In the speech given in Paris on 12 September 2008 at the Collège des Bernardins, the Holy Father Benedict XVI has remarked that, ‘The Greek-Roman world did not have a creator God; according to its vision, the highest divinity could not, as it were, dirty his hands in the business of creating matter. The ‘making’ of the world was the work of the Demiurge, a lower deity. The Christian God is different: he, the one, real and only God, is also the Creator. God is working; he continues to work in and on human history. In Christ, he enters into the laborious work of history. ‘My Father is working still, and I am working’’. God himself is the Creator of the world, has continued Benedict XVI, and creation is not yet finished: ‘God works, ergázetai! Thus human work was now seen as a special form of human resemblance to God, as a way in which man can and may share in God’s activity as creator of the world’, which has been expressed in the monastic culture of work, ‘without which the emergence of Europe, its ethos and its influence on the world would be unthinkable’. This ethos must include, the Holy Father has admonished, ‘the idea that human work and shaping of history is understood as sharing in the work of the Creator, and must be evaluated in those terms. Where such evaluation is lacking, where man arrogates to himself the status of god-like creator, his shaping of the world can quickly turn into destruction of the world’ . Speakers and discussants of the meeting held 31 January to 1 February 2008 in Milan in the beautiful Aula Pio XI of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore considered three main issues. First, family: how to protect families against fragmentation, how to protect the role of women from being disarticulated, how to create a society that is harmonic and balanced, how to contrast inequality. Second, the role played by non-profit organisations and European cooperation with Africa. Third, the dialogue among faith, science and industry. The goal is now to act on these issues, for only a correct action can contribute effectively to the spirit of ecumenism, peace and brotherhood we have pursued. As regards society and labour, UCID and UNIAPAC favour competition, so that each person may validate his/her abilities. Though one has to think also about the ones that are not competitive. UCID and UNIAPAC do not ask for governmental fiscal policies, they stress instead the entrepreneurs’ abilities and the effectiveness of their best practices. They plead for a re-examination of welfare along the lines, for instance, of transferring funds from traditional allocating agencies to new formats that involve the subjects of needs themselves, who are asked to choose on their own the services they deem the best (schools, hospitals, nursing homes). A government-run welfare is bureaucratic, it flattens personhoods and may end up by offending their dignity. As regards the economy, the current severe global crisis, the result of accumulation of financial wealth, calls for the responsibility of both entrepreneurs and governments of finding out and carrying through new effective policies that account for the satisfaction of the people’s needs all over the world. Finally, as regards culture, it is necessary to outline new horizons of expectation that motivate scientists and scholars to interact and find a common identity, aware that the human person is the final end of a society based on a global economy. The results of the proceedings will provide substantial support for validating the claim for hope, peace and brotherhood that have been promised to us. We can nonetheless lose them. Benedict XVI warns that a ‘purely positivistic culture which tried to drive the question concerning God into the subjective realm, as being unscientific, would be the capitulation of reason, the renunciation of its highest possibilities, and hence a disaster for humanity, with serious consequences. What gave Europe’s culture its foundation – the search for God and the readiness to listen to him – remains today the basis of any genuine culture’. We are firmly convinced that only the rescue of reason in all its functions, first and foremost its recognition that religion be a structural constant of the human being, will enable economic operators to set forth on the path of a serene and constructive confrontation with all the fellow citizens who strive for the true well being of peoples.
Christian Entrepreneurs for Europe
POZZO, Riccardo;
2009-01-01
Abstract
In the speech given in Paris on 12 September 2008 at the Collège des Bernardins, the Holy Father Benedict XVI has remarked that, ‘The Greek-Roman world did not have a creator God; according to its vision, the highest divinity could not, as it were, dirty his hands in the business of creating matter. The ‘making’ of the world was the work of the Demiurge, a lower deity. The Christian God is different: he, the one, real and only God, is also the Creator. God is working; he continues to work in and on human history. In Christ, he enters into the laborious work of history. ‘My Father is working still, and I am working’’. God himself is the Creator of the world, has continued Benedict XVI, and creation is not yet finished: ‘God works, ergázetai! Thus human work was now seen as a special form of human resemblance to God, as a way in which man can and may share in God’s activity as creator of the world’, which has been expressed in the monastic culture of work, ‘without which the emergence of Europe, its ethos and its influence on the world would be unthinkable’. This ethos must include, the Holy Father has admonished, ‘the idea that human work and shaping of history is understood as sharing in the work of the Creator, and must be evaluated in those terms. Where such evaluation is lacking, where man arrogates to himself the status of god-like creator, his shaping of the world can quickly turn into destruction of the world’ . Speakers and discussants of the meeting held 31 January to 1 February 2008 in Milan in the beautiful Aula Pio XI of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore considered three main issues. First, family: how to protect families against fragmentation, how to protect the role of women from being disarticulated, how to create a society that is harmonic and balanced, how to contrast inequality. Second, the role played by non-profit organisations and European cooperation with Africa. Third, the dialogue among faith, science and industry. The goal is now to act on these issues, for only a correct action can contribute effectively to the spirit of ecumenism, peace and brotherhood we have pursued. As regards society and labour, UCID and UNIAPAC favour competition, so that each person may validate his/her abilities. Though one has to think also about the ones that are not competitive. UCID and UNIAPAC do not ask for governmental fiscal policies, they stress instead the entrepreneurs’ abilities and the effectiveness of their best practices. They plead for a re-examination of welfare along the lines, for instance, of transferring funds from traditional allocating agencies to new formats that involve the subjects of needs themselves, who are asked to choose on their own the services they deem the best (schools, hospitals, nursing homes). A government-run welfare is bureaucratic, it flattens personhoods and may end up by offending their dignity. As regards the economy, the current severe global crisis, the result of accumulation of financial wealth, calls for the responsibility of both entrepreneurs and governments of finding out and carrying through new effective policies that account for the satisfaction of the people’s needs all over the world. Finally, as regards culture, it is necessary to outline new horizons of expectation that motivate scientists and scholars to interact and find a common identity, aware that the human person is the final end of a society based on a global economy. The results of the proceedings will provide substantial support for validating the claim for hope, peace and brotherhood that have been promised to us. We can nonetheless lose them. Benedict XVI warns that a ‘purely positivistic culture which tried to drive the question concerning God into the subjective realm, as being unscientific, would be the capitulation of reason, the renunciation of its highest possibilities, and hence a disaster for humanity, with serious consequences. What gave Europe’s culture its foundation – the search for God and the readiness to listen to him – remains today the basis of any genuine culture’. We are firmly convinced that only the rescue of reason in all its functions, first and foremost its recognition that religion be a structural constant of the human being, will enable economic operators to set forth on the path of a serene and constructive confrontation with all the fellow citizens who strive for the true well being of peoples.
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