Pope Francis Supports the Council for Inclusive Capitalism – Has the Fix for Capitalism Arrived?
greg beier macroESG.com tuesday 08 december 2020 07:50 PM ET
Markets, Politics, and Technology for a Sustainable Future
Pope Francis Supports the Council for Inclusive Capitalism – Has the Fix for Capitalism Arrived?
When I read the Financial Times article “Pope Francis gives his blessing to Council for Inclusive Capitalism - Alliance marks an embrace of big business and finance by the Vatican,” I immediately commented on the FT site:
“If Pope Francis reaches out to other leaders of major religions and encourages them to join, the Council for Inclusive Capitalism could build an alliance large enough around the world together with businesses and investors that could push through systemic transformations required to meet the challenges of our time - particularly with the arrival of the Biden Administration. A watershed moment!”
I believe that the Council for Inclusive Capitalism creates a historic opening for religious leaders to link up with finance and business in a way that hasn’t been done before.
And as Pope Francis is the leader of the world’s largest religious community, with approximately 1.28 billion members equaling 16.4% of the world’s population (if the 7.8 billion world population estimate is correct), there exists a dramatic opportunity to build out a genuine movement for change, particularly in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and North America – regions where the Church is strong.
Religion is an Enormous Winning Alliance
Religion may very well prove to be the decisive factor in building an enormous, winning alliance that can transform the capitalist system. Why? Because it involves linking up people across the world from many different faiths as all of the world’s major religions point to the same basic beliefs of compassion and wisdom.
Religion provides a way of seeing pay-offs in life that are non-material, bigger than our own lives; a way to access a larger vision than just ourselves - just the kind of vast scope that opens the door to empathy needed to drive this momentous change through.
If the Council for Inclusive Capitalism is able to successfully engage the world’s major religions into joining along with leading financial and corporate thought-leaders around the globe, then the Council may well evolve into the one very unique organization who can blend the right threads of interests and supporters to deliver a decisive, meaningful transformation of capitalism that most people want.
Getting Beyond a Celebrity Kickstarter
I became a fan of Pope Francis when I read that he had worked as a doorman at a night club in Buenos Aires when he was in college. It was patently obvious to me that he had seen a wide swathe of life experiences and would drive innovative change. I have not been disappointed.
I think of the Pope’s support of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism as like a celebrity who supports a Kickstarter campaign and “kicks” it into gear. But it’s really up to us to see the bigger picture, share it with our friends and colleagues, and take it way past the initial goal - out to the stretch goal, and beyond.
I encourage you to get involved and make this effort a success.