Vol. X, Bulletin No. 5 April 12, 2005
John Paul II on Work and Globalization
On May 1 five years ago Italy's three major labor federations took the unusual step of canceling their traditional May Day demonstrations in favor of an open-air Mass and mass rally presided over by Pope John Paul II. Close to 200,000 people, including union leaders, government officials, and employers from more than 40 countries, attended the event, called the Workers' Jubilee. Many more watched it on Italian and Europe-wide television.
The Pope chose the rally that day, and a meeting with a smaller group the next day, to talk about globalization, not to denounce it, but to urge taking much greater advantage of its boundless opportunities for human progress. On both occasions, he promoted the Jubilee Year (2000) campaign to reduce the international debt of poor nations, "a debt so huge that repayment is practically impossible." He cited that challenge as an example of his overall theme: everyone's personal responsibility to respect the dignity of the human person in the global marketplace.
'Human Solidarity Must Become Globalized'
In the address he gave after the May Day Mass on a field near Rome, the Pope made these major points:
- "Thanks to new technologies and global computerized communications, fresh possibilities of progress are emerging. However, there is no shortage of new problems, which combine with already existing ones and give rise to legitimate preoccupation. Realities such as unemployment, exploitation of minors, and low wages persist, and are even getting worse in some parts of the world."
- "The commitment to resolve these problems in all parts of the world involves everyone. It concerns you, owners and management; you, financiers; and you, craftsmen, tradespeople, and workers. All must work so that the economic system in which we live does not upset the fundamental order of the priority of work over capital, of the common good over private interest. It is ever more necessary, as Mr. Juan Somavia [director general of the International Labor Organization] said a short while ago, to establish a global coalition in favor of 'decent work'."
- "Globalization is a reality present today in every area of
human life, but it is a reality which must be managed wisely. Solidarity too must become globalized."
[Italics in the Vatican's English language text.]
- "Workers, employers, collaborators, financiers, tradespeople, join your arms, your minds, your hearts to contribute to the building of a society which respects man and his work....Whatever is done for the sake of greater justice, wider fraternity, and a more human ordering of social relationships counts for more than any progress in the technical world."
Then, at the Vatican on May 2, the Holy Father met with a representative group of business and union leaders. Highlights of his remarks to them on "The Ethical Dimension of the Global Economy":
- "The serious phenomenon of unemployment, which affects men, women, and young people, and for which a solution is sought in many ways, would certainly have a positive outcome if economics, finance, and the national and global organization of work itself were never to lose sight of the good of man as their ultimate goal."
- "Today so-called 'globalization' is making the world of work even more complex.. This is a new phenomenon, which needs to be recognized and evaluated with careful and precise study, since it seems clearly 'ambivalent.' It can be something good for man and for society, but could also prove harmful, with serious consequences. Everything depends on certain basic decisions: whether 'globalization' serves man, every individual, or exclusively benefits a development that is not governed by the principles of solidarity, participation, or responsible subsidiarity."
- "In this regard, it is important to remember that the more global the market, the more it must be balanced by a global culture of solidarity that is attentive to the needs of the weakest. Moreover, democracy, including economic democracy, must be safeguarded, as must a correct concept of the person and of society."
- "Globalization also requires a new culture, new rules, and new institutions at the world level."
- "Dear brothers and sisters, this is the vast field that lies
before you; this is the contribution that each of you and the
institutions you represent are asked to make."
Thoughts from a Working Person's Pope
Initiatives, a
publication of the National Center for the Laity, has just published a
timely special edition. It deals with what its editor, William Droel,
calls one of the "top
achievements of Pope John Paul II's pontificate" -- his contribution to
the theology of work, or the "gospel of work." From the Pope's
many talks and writings on the subject, Droel has compiled pertinent
excerpts, which, he notes, are "slightly edited for consistent
pronouns [because] the Pope,
at least in translation, sometimes spoke in the third person;
sometimes in the first." That
compilation is
reprinted here, with permission.
"I have no fear of
working
people. You have always been particularly close to me. I come from your
midst. I come from the quarries of Zakrzowek, from the Solvay furnaces
in Borek Falecki, and then from Nowa Huta. Through all these
surroundings, through my own experience of work, I boldly say that I
learned the gospel anew." --Homily in Nowa Huta,
Poland, July 1979
"I do not forget
that I
myself had direct experience of physical work such as yours, of daily
toil and its dependence, its heaviness and monotony. I shared the
necessities of workers, their rightful demands and their legitimate
aspirations. I know very well that work should not alienate and
frustrate, but should correspond to people’s higher dignity." --Talk in
Monterrey, Mexico,
January 1979
"Work is the
fundamental dimension of our life
on earth. Work has a significance that is not merely technical but
ethical." --Homily at Jansa Gora,
Poland, June 1979
"Work is good for
us. Through
work we not only transform nature, adapting it to our needs, but we
also achieve fulfillment as human beings and indeed in a sense become
more human." --Homily in Monterey,
California, September 1987
"Work must not be
a mere
necessity, but it must be considered a real vocation…Work must be the
means by which all of creation serves the dignity of humankind and the
Son of God. Work offers the opportunity to commit yourself with the
whole community without resentment, without bitterness, without hatred,
but with the universal love of Christ that excludes no one and embraces
everyone." --Talk in Guadalajara,
Mexico, January 1979
"I come to
announce the
gospel of work…During the first four years of my pontificate, I have
unceasingly proclaimed the centrality of humankind…insisting on
people’s primacy over things and the importance of the subjective
dimension of work, based on the dignity of the human person." --Talk in
Barcelona, Spain,
November 1982
"Through work
people not only
transform nature, adapting it to their needs, but also achieve fulfillment as human beings and indeed, in a
sense, become more human. Without this consideration it is impossible
to understand industriousness [and other work virtues]." --Encyclical Laborem Exercens, September 1981
"It must be said
over and
over again that work is for man, not man for work…The worker is always
more important than profits and machines." --Talk in Sydney, Australia,
November 1986
Work, Creation
and
Redemption
(from
Genesis to Joseph’s Carpenter Shop to the Cross)
"Work corresponds
to God’s
design and will. The first pages of Genesis present creation to
us as the work of God, God’s labor. So to be like God, God calls on
many to work. Hence, work is not something off on the side. Even
less
is it a curse from heaven. On the contrary, work is a primordial
blessing from the Creator, an activity permitting people to realize
themselves and to offer service to society." --Talk in Barcelona,
Spain,
November 1982
"The Son of God
became man
and worked with human hands…So we know, not only by reason alone but
through revelation, that through their work people share in the
Creator’s work. We continue it and, in a sense, perfect it by our own
work, our toil, by daily effort to wrest a livelihood from the earth,
or from the sea, or by applying energy to the many different processes
of production…Indeed, we Christians are convinced that the achievements
of the human race—in art, science, culture and technology—are a sign of
God’s greatness and the flowering of God’s mysterious design." --Talk
in Pusan, South
Korea, May 1984
"The law of the
cross is
engraved on our work…Christ had himself put on the cross, as if on the
great threshold of spiritual history, to oppose any form of
degradation, including by work…This must be remembered by the worker
and the employer." --Homily in Nowa Huta,
Poland, June 1979
"Enter the house
of Nazareth,
approach this workbench where, beside Joseph and under the maternal
glance of his mother, the Son of God worked. God-made-man knew the
experience of human work. We want to enter there, into this house of
Nazareth. We want to bring all the modern problems of work: all the
social, economic, political, cultural and moral problems, all the
anxieties connected with the world of work, especially the worry caused
by unemployment…In this house in Nazareth we return close to Jesus the
worker…There cannot be human work that is alienated [here]. I say this
in the name of Jesus…Human work is redeemed, is restored in Jesus
Christ." --Angelus Prayer in the
Vatican, March 1984
"People eat the
bread
produced by the work of human hands—and this means not only the daily
bread that keeps the body alive but also the bread of science and
progress, civilization and culture. It is also a perennial truth that
people eat this bread by the sweat of their brow, that is to say, not
only by personal effort and toil but also in the midst of many
tensions, conflicts and crises, which, in relationship to the reality
of work, disturb the life of society and also all humanity… People,
created in the image of God, share by their work in the activity of the
Creator…By enduring the toil of work in union with Christ crucified for
us, people in a way collaborate with the Son of God for the redemption
of humanity." --Encyclical Laborem Exercens, September 1981
Workers
as Consumers
"It is not wrong
to want to
live better. What is wrong is a lifestyle which is presumed to be better when it is directed
toward having rather than being, and which wants to have more,
not in order to
be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself."
--Encyclical Centesimus
Annus,
May
1991
"Work must be
rescued from
the logic of profit, from the lack of solidarity, from the fever of
earning ever more, from the desire to accumulate and consume. When work
is subjected to inhumane wealth, work becomes a seductive and merciless
idol." --Talk in Vatican City, May
2004
The Church’s
Mission Is
to the World of Work
"It is your duty,
dear
priests, to make [the church’s] wish come true…That workers’ figure and
situation be reconsidered, to allow them to be more human and to
recover their true greatness as collaborators with God’s creative
work…So that the gap between church and factory begins to fill, and
that the fumes of incense mix with those of industries in rising up to
heaven." --Talk to priests in the
Vatican, April 1979.
"The church, it is
sometimes
said, only concerns itself with moral and religious values and does not
take an interest in economic and temporal values, as if the church did
not understand the reality of workers’ situations…I will answer you in
all sincerity that these objections have no reason to exist…The true
Christian element…brings peace, justice and unity into the factory."
--Talk in Pomezia, Italy,
September 1979
"The church is
convinced that
work is a fundamental dimension of human existence on earth…The church
considers it her duty to speak out on work…It is her particular duty to
form a spirituality of work which will help all people to come closer, through work, to
God…This Christian spirituality of work should be a heritage shared by all." --Encyclical Laborem Exercens, September 1981
The Christian
Concept of
Enterprise
"People and human
values must
be the beginning and end of the economy. The standard for making
decisions, even in the moment of major crisis, cannot be an
overvaluation of profit." --Talk in Milan, Italy, May
1983
"In the Christian
concept of
enterprise…economics and technology really have no meaning unless they
have reference to humankind, whom they must serve…An enterprise is not
just a production structure. It should also transform itself into a
life-giving community, a place where people live with and relate to
their peers, where personal development is not only allowed but also
encouraged. The main enemy of a Christian sense of enterprise is a
certain functionalism that makes efficiency the only and the immediate
requirement for production and work." --Talk in Barcelona, Spain,
November 1982
"The purpose of a
business
firm is not simply to make a profit, but is to be found in its very
existence as a community of persons…Profit is a regulator of
the life of a business, but it is not the only one. Other human and
moral factors must be considered which, in the long term, are at
least equally important for the life of a business." --Encyclical Centesimus
Annus, May 1991
How Pope Upgraded Doctrine of Work
In the special edition of Initiatives, its editor, William Droel, introduces the above excerpts with a profound analysis of Pope John Paul II's contribution to a recent sharp "turn in the Catholic doctrine on work," away from being seen "as strictly a penance for original sin, a necessary evil." Droel writes that the development of the new "gospel of work...should be considered near the top achievements of John Paul II's pontificate," and adds:
"Yet, John Paul II was unable to make 'the gospel of work' a salient feature in the spirituality of most Catholics -- at least that's the observation from Initiatives' attic office near Chicago's Midway Airport. To carry out a legacy for John Paul II, Catholics will have to get more serious about the present vocation crisis in many occupations and professions. It is a crisis of meaning in which careerism is substituted for calling. It is a crisis in which lots of jobs are not structured for health and meaningfulness. It is a crisis about the quality of work, about ethical practices in the marketplace, about poverty amid plenty."