While I do not mix politics or religion with business, I do want to share a speech from a man who is both a religious leader and a strong voice in the call for caring and sharing among all people. Last month the World Congress of Accountants met in Rome. Among the many professional sessions and speaker, one presenter stood out: Pope Francis. His speech was a call-to-action for accountants to be leaders and advocates for improving economic conditions for all people through ethical behavior. He said, in part:
“You professional accountants, on your activity, are alongside businesses but also families and individuals, to provide your economic and financial counsel. I encourage you always to act responsibly, fostering relations based on loyalty, justice and, where possible, fraternity, tackling with courage, above all, the problems of the weaker and the poorer. Giving concrete answer to economic and practical questions is not enough; there is need to raise and cultivate an ethics of the economy, of finance and of employment; there is need to keep the value of solidarity alive – solidarity, a word that today risks being removed from the dictionary – solidarity as a moral attitude, an expression of the attention to other people and their legitimate needs.
If we wish to leave to future generations an improved environmental, economic, cultural and social heritage, we are called to take up the responsibility to work for globalizing solidarity. Solidarity is a need arising from the same network of interconnections which develop together with the globalization. And the social doctrine of the Church teaches us that the principle of solidarity is effected in harmony with the principle of subsidiarity. Thanks to the effect of these two principles, processes are at the service of human beings and justice grows, that justice without which there can be no true and long-lasting peace.”
Read the complete speech here.
