Pundits sometimes quip that “business ethics” is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms because it is said that there is an inherent conflict between ethics and the pursuit of profit. But more and more, as we see the effects of such unmitigated self-interest, we begin to wonder whether the capitalistic mantra of the eighties, “Greed is good” has not visited disaster on so many people today.

In the midst of the world-wide financial crisis, this recent one following just a bare half-decade after the Asian financial crisis that actually spread its tentacles beyond the Asian region, we find ourselves in a quandary – is our world spinning out of control? Has evil taken root in every sphere of our lives so that even the very means of our efforts to sustain our existence are now suspect?

Recently, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI issued his third Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office observed, “…despite the crisis we are going through, the Encyclical offers a message of hope: Humanity has a mission and the means to transform the world and progress in justice and love in human relations, even in the social and economic field.”

The Pontiff’s Encyclical, which is all of 73 pages in booklet form, is a deep treatise on the social doctrine of the Church. It is not easy to grapple with as the Pope has touched on a wide gamut of social themes: the market economy, globalization, technology, environment, population, defense of life, family, sexuality, etc…The July issue of Documentation Service (DS) provides a reader’s guide to Caritas in Veritate, and in this article I would like to share some of the gems I find that touch on the economy and business ethics.

Among other things, the Holy Father emphasizes that economy is not a moral-free zone. As one of the articles in DS states, “ Perhaps Caritas in Veritate’s most important truth-claim about economic life is that the market economy cannot be based on just any value system…market economies just be underpinned by commitments to particular moral goods and a certain vision of the human person if it is to serve rather than undermine humanity’s common good.” The Holy Father stresses that “The economy needs ethics in order to function correctly – not any ethics whatsoever, but an ethics which is people-centered.”

And indeed, in the wake of the financial disasters that we have seen in the recent past, we find that today, there is talk of ethics in finance and business. Corporate governance, which has become a buzz-word in financial and capital markets is ethics-based. And so, since the mother of all corporate scandals, Enron, erupted in the center of capitalism, we have seen a rise in government regulations, in the adoption of corporate governance codes, in the formulation of codes of conduct, in the strict observance of international financial standards. Seminars and systems of ethical certification are being developed. Indeed, we are seeing that the view that ethical behavior is the best long-term business strategy for a company has become increasingly accepted throughout.

However, as the world struggles to “laymanize” ethics and ethical behavior, it seems to lose sight of what the Church has continually emphasized – that the heart of social doctrine remains the human person. Caritas in Veritate, which is actually a continuation of the Holy Father’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, has for its central theme the concept of caritas understood as divine love manifested in Christ. This has to be the source that should inspire the thinking and behavior of the Christian – businessmen, government leaders, and the ordinary layman – that their policies, actions, and responses must always consider the centrality of the human person.

Unfortunately, growth and development, as the world sees it, are independent or differentiated from the question of faith, as if human promotion is one thing, and the proclamation of faith is another… hence the idea that ethics and business are incompatible...that economics and religion never the twain can meet.

The development of peoples, the Encyclical states, “is intimately linked to the development of individuals.” And yet governments and political systems consider the development of peoples as matters of technological progress, of opening up markets and removing tariffs, of more investment in production, of financial engineering and institutional reforms…in other words, outside the realm of spirituality.

True development is about integral development, which is about the whole person, and includes his spiritual development. The truth is, as the Holy Father succinctly says, “Development is impossible without upright men and women, without financiers and politicians whose consciences are finely attuned to the requirements of the common good.”

In other words, the message of the Encyclical is that there can be no new society without new men and women. Christians must be prepared to live the Church’s social doctrine in charity – a charity that is not reduced to mere human goodwill or philanthropic acts (corporate social responsibility is now also another buzzword) but “one that is rooted in radical Christian love brought into the market, into human and international development, and into our political and civic life.” (DS)

In fine, the Holy Father reminds us, Love and Truth, must be central to any ordering of human affairs.
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