Work must be enlightened by morality, says Italian cardinal

Rome, Italy, Mar 19, 2008 / 10:00 am

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, said this week that work should bring “an ideal and moral result”.  Without it, work becomes “prisoner of the logic of the marketplace” which does not put the human person at the center.

The cardinal made his remarks Monday during Mass on the feast of St. Joseph at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo.

“If, together with economic results for workers and their livelihood, work does not also carry an ideal and moral result, it loses a significant part of its efficaciousness for all,” the cardinal said, because “it only becomes prisoner of the logic of the marketplace, which does not put the person who works and lives in relationships with others at the center.”

“The Church is interested in the world of work because she can’t help but be interested in everything that has to do with the good of man and his life,” he said.  In fact, “faith in eternal life does not diminish earthly responsibilities; on the contrary, it offers perspectives and ulterior motives for building a more just world,” Cardinal Bagnasco continued.

He went on to stress that work “is not only a means of sustenance,” it is also a way “to collaborate with others in building a better society, not only for obvious economic results for all but also, and above all, for the world of spiritual and moral values that each job demands.”

Work should be “the fruit of an ideal vision of life, the family, society, a way of creating well-being and the economy.”