Holy See diplomat: the person should be at the center of UN development plans
February 12, 2015
As the United Nations discusses post-2015 plans for international development, the Holy See’s permanent observer said that the person, not economic growth or the market, should be at the center of the discussion.
“To be sustainable and beneficial for all, social development must be ethical, moral and person-centered,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza said on February 10. “Economic growth is not a sufficient indicator of social development.”
“The market economy does not exist to serve itself, but rather to serve the common good of all of society,” he added. “With this in mind, we must pay particular attention to the welfare of the most vulnerable among us since they are often overlooked in the name of greater productivity, efficiency and general economic growth.”
In this context, he emphasized that “investments in education, access to basic health-care services, and the creation of social safety nets are primary, not secondary factors.”
Archbishop Auza also spoke about the importance of the family:
The authentic integral development of the person and the eradication of poverty are achievable only by focusing on the tremendous value of the family to society, where every human being receives his or her primary education and most formative development. The family is society’s most natural social safety net, sharing resources for the benefit of the entire family unit and offering intergenerational support. In the family, we learn to love and to contribute without pay and, unlike in the global economy, every individual person has a place.
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