The Holy Father's audience with the newly founded The Economy of Francis took place this morning. The Pope to the young people of EoF: «You are a living path, only by loving can you change the world of the economy»
Source: EoF Press Office
ROME, 25 September 2024 - «I am happy to know that you have given life, with the Bishop of Assisi and the other promoters appointed by me, to “The Economy of Francis Foundation”. From your ideals an institution has been born. It is important because it will serve to support the ideals; and you will be not only beneficiaries, but protagonists, taking on the tasks assigned to you with enthusiasm and a sense of availability».
This was said by Pope Francis during his audience with a large delegation of the EoF foundation, which was formally established on Monday 23 September. The meeting was attended by the founding members - the bishop of the dioceses of Assisi - Nocera Umbra - Gualdo Tadino and of Foligno, Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, also president of the newly-established foundation, the president of the Serafico Francesca Di Maolo and the economist Luigino Bruni - and a group of supporters, experts and young people of over thirty nationalities, involved in the Foundation's various bodies and constituting the participation assembly, the association's central organ, already at work to determine the activity plan and objectives.
«Now - one of the passages in the Pope's speech - a new phase begins for you. We need this beautiful reality of yours to grow, to be strengthened, to reach more and more young people, and to bear the typical fruits of the Gospel and goodness. Thank you for everything, for all that you do and have done, which has gone beyond expectations.
I wanted to focus on you, because young people have their whole lives ahead of them, they are a living ‘path’, and good things can come from a path, being careful to prevent the bad ones. The economic world needs a change. You will not change it just by becoming ministers, or Nobel Prize winners, or great economists - all good things -; you will change it above all by loving it, in the light of God, by injecting into it the values and power of goodness, with the evangelical spirit of Francis of Assisi: he was the son of a merchant, he knew the merits and defects of that world! Love the economy, concretely love the workers, the poor, privileging the situations of greatest suffering.on is the great and the powerful that changes the world for the better: it is love that is the first and greatest factor of change. An economist with a holy life, Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo, wrote in this regard that the one who will truly save society, ‘will not be a diplomat, a scholar, a hero, but a saint, indeed, a society of saints'. That is why I wanted to hinge the whole Economy of Francis movement on St Francis of Assisi who, by simply stripping himself of everything for the love of Jesus and the poor, also gave a new impetus to the development of the economy. Today, I would like to leave you three words: be witnesses (to bring other young people with your ideals closer to the economy), do not be afraid (carry on the dream and dare new words) and hope without getting tired (it is not easy to propose a new economy in a scenario of new and old wars, while the arms industry prospers by taking resources away from the poor, but let us remember what Jesus said to the disciples: ‘Do not be afraid’)»
The deed of incorporation states that the new Foundation's purpose is to «promote and organise initiatives and activities in the cultural and spiritual sphere, scientific research, interdisciplinary training, enterprise and innovation; to foster awareness and responsibility for an economic and entrepreneurial life under the banner of integral human development; to encourage cultural, academic, publishing and entrepreneurial experiences and paths».
The full text of Pope Francis' message to the young people of EoF can be read here.