Vatican cardinal reflects on international trade, economic crisis

September 11, 2014

Speaking at the release of a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace emphasized that despite increased trade, “the basic question remains: what kind of trade and development are going to meet the pervasive challenges of hardships and poverty, of inequality and lack of progress?”

“Human leadership or governance still seems to have a lot to learn about how to order economic affairs for the welfare of everyone and for the safeguarding of the environment,” said Cardinal Peter Turkson. “And world governance, including institutions of the U.N. family, need to appreciate the poor, as St John Paul II put it, ‘not as a problem, but as people who can become the principal builders of a new and more human future for everyone.’”

He added:

The 50th anniversary of UNCTAD and the launching of the 2014 Trade and Development Report take place under the long shadow of the current financial and monetary crisis. It results from a combination of ethical and technical breakdowns. Have the right lessons been learned yet? It is not evident that the organizations, institutions and decision-makers responsible for ethical and technical breakdowns have acknowledged their role, much less made the necessary repairs. We must do better. Our societies need to find ways of exercising greater corporate, financial and governmental responsibility for the economy and the environment. The world economy has been marooned in growth doldrums for the past six years, and this state of affairs is in growing danger of becoming accepted as the “new normal.”

 

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Further information:

• Card Turkson on the need for ethical trade and development (Vatican Radio)
• Vatican official: UN trade agency is ‘inspiration’ for Holy See’s positions (CWN, 7/18)