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Pope Francis Encourages Attendees at Impact Investment Conference June 20th, 2014
The Holy Father met with participants of a Vatican-sponsored conference on impact investing – investments designed to serve the common good. The Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace organized a two-day sharing of strategies around impact investing – what is it, how it can help the poor and how to develop it further. Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI spoke at the conference on Tuesday.
The Pope said: “It is important that ethics once again play its due part in the world of finance and that markets serve the interests of peoples and the common good of humanity. It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences.” His remarks reportedly offered a good summary of the issues, opportunities and challenges involved in impact investing.
Read Pope Francis’ address to conference participants here…
“Investing for the Poor: How Impact Investing Can Serve the Common Good in the Light of Evangelii Gaudium” June 16th, 2014
The Vatican is convening a two-day conference on of impact investing – investments that directly benefit the poor. Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI is one of the conference speakers.
Read the Impact Investment Conference Program
See who is speaking at the conference…
Vatican Seminar on Human Trafficking November 15th, 2013
The following is taken, with our thanks, from the Stop Trafficking!, the newsletter opposed to human slavery supported by a broad coalition of organizations of Catholic Sisters.
Following a wish expressed by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and of Social Sciences (PASS) and the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), organized a seminar entitled, “Trafficking in Human Beings: Modern Slavery. Destitute Peoples and the Message of Jesus Christ”.
The November 2-3, 2013 seminar, held in Vatican City, brought together some seventy delegates from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA. The UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo from Nigeria, was among the twenty-two speakers.
The sixty observers in attendance were asked to contribute concrete proposals through which the global Church could better respond to the plight of millions of enslaved peoples.
Pope Francis was directly involved in combating modern day slavery in Buenos Aires, where he actively supported the work of the Fundacion Alameda, an Argentinian organization headed by Gustavo Vera, another of the speakers. The Pope’s first trip after his election was to Lampedusa to pay tribute to the hundreds who had recently died at sea, trying to reach this island half-way between Sicily and Tunisia where many victims of human trafficking end up.
Read more about this conference and efforts to stop human trafficking in the November issue of Stop Trafficking!
World Bank Group President and the Pope Discuss Ending Poverty October 28th, 2013
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and His Holiness Pope Francis met on October 28th at the Vatican to discuss their mutual efforts to end extreme poverty and provide greater opportunities for the poor and vulnerable.
“I was so grateful to meet with the Holy Father and was inspired by his passion and commitment to help the poor, the sick, and the hungry,” Kim said. “We talked about ways we could work together with faith leaders to make a preferential option for the poor, so they can have greater opportunity and justice in their lives.”
Kim thanked Pope Francis for his strong statements encouraging humble service to the less fortunate, as well as his support for better education, health care, environmental protection, and jobs with fair wages to help the poor lift themselves out of poverty.
Following the 20-minute meeting, Pope Francis and Kim agreed to explore ways to work together to end extreme poverty.
“At the World Bank Group, we have set a goal to end extreme poverty in less than a generation, and to boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40 percent of people in developing countries,” Kim said. “Pope Francis and I agree on the urgent moral imperative to lessen the suffering of over 1 billion people and to end the scandal of poverty. We share a vision of a world with greater compassion for all people in need.”
Vatican Hosts Mining CEO’s in a “Day of Reflection” September 11th, 2013
Participants of the “Vatican Day of Reflection on Mining” in front of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome
The CEOs of some of the world’s top mining companies went to the Vatican for a day-long meeting last Saturday to discuss better ways to operate in communities that are increasingly protesting the destructive impacts of mining. Communities are fearful – with good reason – of the impacts of mining on their water, land and air.
Saturday’s “day of reflection with the mining industry,” was organized, at the request of leaders in the mining sector, by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. It included the CEOs of Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Newmont Mining, who alone represented companies with well more than $100-billion (U.S.) in market value. The chairmen, presidents or senior executives of dozens of other companies, ranging from AngloGold Ashanti to African Rainbow Minerals, were also present. Fr. Seamus Finn OMI, from the USP JPIC team in Washington DC, was invited to be a part of the team that prepared the day of reflection and offered input during the day. Pope Francis offered a message of greeting and challenge to the group and offered his prayers and blessings on the event.
The companies were interested “to open a dialogue where mining interfaces with the community … to hear other views with the promise of all of us making a difference.”
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