Page - 579 - in Menschenrechte und Gerechtigkeit als bleibende Aufgaben - Beiträge aus Religion, Theologie, Ethik, Recht und Wirtschaft

© 2020, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847111658 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737011655 commongood, to fashionaworld toman’s surpassingdignity, andtomeet the urgencies of our age with a gallant and unified effort born of love.11 These classicalprinciplesare: 1) Personality/Personhood, as an expression of every human person’smeta- physicallyaddedvalue,understoodasabearerandownerofinalienableand irreplaceabledignity. 2) Solidarity,notasavaguesenseofcompassion,but,asthevirtue,inthewords of Pope John Paul II, whichmakes one commit really to the wellbeing of another. 3) Subsidiarity, according to which “all societies of a superior order must adopt attitudes of help (subsidium) – therefore of support, promotion, development– with respect to lower order of societies”.12 Solidarity and subsidiarity thus have, as scope, the development of persons and their dignity. 4) Commongood,understoodnotasgrossnationalproductorgrossdomestic product,butas theguaranteeof thepersonal, familial andassociativegood. Thecommongoodofeveryperson inahumancommunity is thus the fun- damental right to life andto its full realization. 5) Tothesefourprinciples,onemaynowadd, inthelightof theUNcelebration of“EarthDay”andofPopeFrancis’Encyclicalletteronintegralecology,“care of theearth”,ourcommonhome. Inprinciple, then, the financial system, its operationand transactionsmustbe groundedandguided,notprimarilybyprofit andmaximisationof returns for investorsandshareholders,butbymoralprinciplesthatarethefruitoffaithand charity,13andwhichconstruct averitableESGFramework(Environment, Soci- ety, andGovernance). Thenecessity, on theonehand, of amoral compass in financial investment andoperations isalsoconfirmedbyPopeBenedictXVIwhoobserveswisely in his Encyclical Letter,Caritas in veritate, that, “the economic sphere is neither ethicallyneutral,nor inherently inhumanandopposedtosociety. It ispartand parcelofhumanactivity,andpreciselybecauseitishuman,itmustbestructured andgovernedinanethicalmanner.”14Ontheotherhand,theneedforsuchmoral guidancetopromoteanESGframeworkisalsoconfirmedby theBishopsof the UnitedStateswho in their 1986Pastoral Letter, “Economic Justice for all”, ob- served, “Economic life raises social andmoralquestions foreachofusand for 11 Cf.Gaudiumetspes, 91. 12 Cf.Compendium,§185–186. 13 TherecentlypublishedtextOeconomicaeetPecuniariaemakes thesamecall. 14 BenedictXVI,Caritas inVeritate,Vatican2009,36. ACatholicChurchPerspective 579 Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0