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PRIVATE INITIATIVE AND BUSINESS INITIATIVE
- 336.
- “The Church’s social doctrine considers the freedom of the person in economic matters a fundamental value and an inalienable right to be promoted and defended.”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2429.
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 63: AAS 58 (1966), 1084-1085.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 48: AAS 83 (1991), 852-854.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 15: AAS 80 (1988), 528-530.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 17: AAS 73 (1981), 620-622.
- John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 413-415.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 15: AAS 80 (1988), 529.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2429.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 16: AAS 83 (1991), 813-814.
- 337.
- “The creative dimension is an essential component of human activity, even in the area of business, and it is especially manifested in the areas of planning and innovation.”
BUSINESS AND ITS GOALS
- 338.
- “Businesses should be characterized by their capacity to serve the common good of society through the production of useful goods and services.”
- “A business’ objective must be met in economic terms and according to economic criteria, but the authentic values that bring about the concrete development of the person and society must not be neglected.”
- 339.
- “All those involved in a business venture must be mindful that the community in which they work represents a good for everyone and not a structure that permits the satisfaction of someone’s merely personal interests.”
- “A very important and significant example in this regard is found in the activity of so-called cooperative enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, commercial undertakings featuring hand-made products and family-sized agricultural ventures.”
- 340.
- “The social doctrine of the Church recognizes the proper role of profit as the first indicator that a business is functioning well.”
- “It is essential that within a business the legitimate pursuit of profit should be in harmony with the irrenounceable protection of the dignity of the people who work at different levels in the same company.”
- 341.
- “Although the quest for equitable profit is acceptable in economic and financial activity, recourse to usury is to be morally condemned.”
- 342.
- “Businesses today move in economic contexts that are becoming ever broader.”
ROLE OF BUSINESS OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
- 343.
- “Economic initiative is an expression of human intelligence and of the necessity of responding to human needs in a creative and cooperative fashion.”
- 344.
- “The roles of business owners and management have a central importance from the viewpoint of society, because they are at the heart of that network of technical, commercial, financial and cultural bonds that characterizes the modern business reality.”
- “Business owners and management must not limit themselves to taking into account only the economic objectives of the company, the criteria for economic efficiency and the proper care of ‘capital’ as the sum of the means of production. It is also their precise duty to respect concretely the human dignity of those who work within the company.”
- 345.
- “The Church’s social doctrine insists on the need for business owners and management to strive to structure work in such a way as to promote the family, especially mothers, in the fulfillment of their duties; to accede, in light of an integral vision of man and development, to the demand for the quality ‘of the goods to be produced and consumed, the quality of the services to be enjoyed, the quality of the environment and of life in general’.”
