The main resource

Speaking of banks to a bank and, by doing so, speaking not just of finance, but of Europe, of Christian values, of solidarity, of human capital and the tension between rationality and disinterested love: that’s what Benedict XVI did last Saturday, 12 June, in his speech to the Development Bank of the Council of Europe, of which the Holy See is also a member.It is well known that the human sciences often consider rational whatever is needed to maximise the results. They have long spoken of the economy in terms of “economic rationality”, and of finance in terms of “financial rationality” – intending thereby a hypothetical rational conduct to which everyone who deals with these matters ought to aspire: obtaining the maximum benefit with the minimum cost. There is however another concept of rationality, according to which rationality is man’s capacity to pursue ends which have a value in themselves: so not a value with a view to obtaining other benefits, but a value that is intrinsic in the ends themselves. The human person is just that, because he is able to give his assent to his own actions merely by following these rational criteria. Animals say no to an impulse only in response to a greater impulse, but man says yes or no to his own will in consideration of good or evil, and of what he ought, or ought not to do. On the basis of these two conceptions of rationality, a dissociation has been created between economic action and moral action: the former is inspired by the criterion of material utility and in it there is no good that deserves being pursued for itself, whereas the latter is inspired by disinteredness, or gratuitousness, in other words the not expecting anything in return, given that this good deserves to be pursued for itself alone.The Pope, speaking to the Council of Europe Development Bank, asked that this opposition between economic value and moral value be overcome. He supported the notion that the aim of a bank is never merely or exclusively financial, as indeed is demonstrated, in his view, by the history of the Council of Europe Development Bank itself. The aim of this Bank is one of solidarity, and solidarity is one of those benefits that is pursued, not for an ulterior purpose, but for itself alone, inasmuch as solidarity is essential for the very development of man. The Council of Europe Development Bank, said Benedict XVI, was founded to foster social integration, the protection of the environment, the entrepreneurship of civil society and the networks of solidarity that strengthen the communities of European peoples. It was also founded to help Europe, to enable it better to “breathe with two lungs”, as John Paul II said, and hence to be a civilizing process, a means to promote justice and peace in Europe. And Europe too, like solidarity, is a good to be pursued for itself and not for any other ulterior end. It’s not like money or insurance cover that serve to protect other useful goods: Europe is a qualitative project, a project of human community capable of truly being lived as such.And this brings us to the crux of the Pope’s speech: the human person is the reality that more than anything else must be pursued, not in view of something else, but for itself alone; even God, as “Gaudium et spes” asserts, loved the human person for itself and thus made it the very beginning, subject and end of society. Saying that the main resource is man means expressing not just an economic, but also a spiritual and religious datum. Europe must be helped, not just materially, but also spiritually, to rediscover this vocation of service to the integral human good. At this point a reference to Christianity is obligatory, for Christianity has participated in the construction of European civilization and represents a fundamental component of its spiritual identity. The themes of justice, solidarity and peace are born within this identity: they are human and European themes. They are European themes because they are human and human because they are Christian: “The economy and finance do not exist as ends in themselves; they are only an instrument, a means. Their end is exclusively the human person and his full realization in dignity. It is this capital alone that is worth saving. And in this capital the spiritual dimension of the human person is found. Christianity has permitted Europe to understand what are the freedom, responsibility and ethical principles that imbue its laws and the structures of its society. Sidelining Christianity – also through the exclusion of the symbols that express it – would be tantamount to depriving our continent of the fundamental source that constantly fuels it and that contributes to its true identity”.In his Encyclical “Caritas in veritate”, Benedict XVI asked that brotherhood and equality should rightfully enter into the world of economics and finance. Speaking now to the Council of Europe Development Bank, he furnished a specific example; he addressed a particular subject; he appealed to a unique history. At the same time, however, he made a more general appeal, indeed an invitation to European banks in general to rediscover these shared historical origins: “There exists in Europe a rich past that has seen the development of economic experiences based on brotherhood. There exist businesses that have a social or mutualistic end. They have suffered due to the laws of the market, but wish to rediscover the strength of generosity that characterized their origins”. There any many European financial institutions that ought to respond to this invitation of the Pope.