An economy for the common good

Pope Francis addressed business leaders at the 27th World Congress of UNIAPAC, an international union of business executives. He urged members to use their God-given gifts to work towards a more caring and inclusive economy.

“Everyone has the right to participate in economic life and the duty to contribute, each according to his own capacity, to the progress of his own country and to that of the entire human family… This is a duty in solidarity and justice, but it is also the best way to bring economic progress to all of humanity.

“Work that contributes to the restoration of full human dignity, will help to ensure a sustainable future for future generations. And this dimension of care involves, first and foremost, the workers.”

Catechism should be dynamic

Writing in La Civiltà Cattolica on the 30th anniversary of the catechism of the Catholic Church, Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, who for 10 years was director of the Holy See’s press office, described it as an “extraordinary text” and  an “organic synthesis” of “doctrine as presented at the time of Vatican Council II”. He added: “But the catechism should not be considered rigid, fixed, definitive, untouchable. An expression of the history of the Christian faith, it must remain so, and therefore dynamic and alive.”

Judicial reform is urgent

Catholic bishops in Bolivia used the Gospel reading about the unjust judge and the widow to advocate for “urgent” judiciary reform.

Bishop Robert Flock of San Ignacio de Velasco, Bolivia, said “it seems the widow lived in Bolivia, where many are asking for a reform of justice, without being heard”.

Percy Lorenzo Galván Flores, Archbishop of La Paz, Bolivia, said “as a Church we have a duty to demand this justice, an independent justice, a clean justice, a justice that defends the dignity and rights of every human being”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)