Over last weekend and Monday, Pope Francis ventured once more into the field of econo­mics. The media have reported excerpts of his latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, and on a meeting he had with representatives of a leading investment bank. Some statements he made challenge our thinking and should be considered seriously and certainly not be dismissed.

The encyclical itself indicates the way to build a better, more just and peaceful world, with the contribution of all. The pope then followed this up with a speech he gave to representatives of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, where he said that the economic impact of the coronavirus requires a generous and ethical response on the part of governments, policy and decision-makers and businesses.

Pope Francis sends some very clear messages. The underlying theme in these messages is that the economic policies of governments need to change and businesses need to adopt a different approach post-coronavirus. Governments need to ensure that economic wealth is fairly distributed and businesses need to understand that profit cannot be the be-all and end-all of everything. The economy needs to place the human person right in the centre, and economic policy has to give first priority to the common good.

This needs to be put into a context that has emerged. This week it was reported by media that a report by UBS shows that the world’s few billionaires increased their wealth by 27 per cent at the height of the coronavirus crisis between April and July, while the many millions of people around the world lost their income or were managing to get by only thanks to government schemes.

The wealth of a billionaire is such that even if one were to live for the next 1,000 years, it would be impossible to spend it all. It is, therefore, unacceptable from a moral perspective that the few continue to accumulate their riches while the many lose even the little they have.

Christian thought is not opposed in principle to the prospect of profit but rather it is opposed to profit at any cost

This thinking leads us to two quotes I picked up and that are attribu­ted to Pope Francis. The first is that “business management requires fair and clear conduct and the pursuit of ethical lines of action”.

It is simply not acceptable that employees lose their job so that a few people, who are already very rich, continue to become richer. They have means that go well beyond their needs, and as such are expected to keep in employment those people who, after all, have contributed so much to their wealth.

A second quote follows the same lines: “A good economic policy makes it possible for jobs to be created and not cut”. This does not mean creating jobs for which there is no economic justification. However, the inventiveness of entrepreneurs is such that if it becomes economically not feasible to undertake a task, another task is created instead. A word of praise needs to go to those employers who kept people in employment during these difficult months, even if it may have been more financially convenient to lay them off.

Pope Francis also makes a comment about ‘trickle down’ economic policies, but I will come back to this subject in the coming weeks.

These messages apply to Malta as well, as much as they apply to the rest of the world. Even in Malta we need to uphold the principle that the economy needs to be subject to the well-being of the people and of society, and not the other way round.

Christian thought is not opposed in principle to the prospect of profit, but rather it is opposed to profit at any cost, especially if this brings about more social inequalities and if it is harmful to the human person.