Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 299

disciplinary research and reflection which the present session of the Academy

has now undertaken.

In my Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, I observed that "the current crisis

obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover

new forms of commitment".1 Re-planning the journey, of course, also means

looking to comprehensive and objective standards against which to judge the

structures, institutions and concrete decisions which guide and direct eco-

nomic life. The Church, based on her faith in God the Creator, affirms the

existence of a universal natural law which is the ultimate source of these

criteria.2 Yet she is likewise convinced that the principles of this ethical order,

inscribed in creation itself, are accessible to human reason and, as such, must

be adopted as the basis for practical choices. As part of the great heritage of

human wisdom, the natural moral law, which the Church has appropriated,

purified and developed in the light of Christian revelation, serves as a beacon

guiding the efforts of individuals and communities to pursue good and to

avoid evil, while directing their commitment to building an authentically just

and humane society.

Among the indispensable principles shaping such an integral ethical ap-

proach to economic life must be the promotion of the common good,

grounded in respect for the dignity of the human person and acknowledged

as the primary goal of production and trade systems, political institutions

and social welfare. In our day, concern for the common good has taken on a

more markedly global dimension. It has also become increasingly evident

that the common good embraces responsibility towards future generations;

intergenerational solidarity must henceforth be recognized as a basic ethical

criterion for judging any social system. These realities point to the urgency of

strengthening the governance procedures of the global economy, albeit with

due respect for the principle of subsidiarity. In the end, however, all econom-

ic decisions and policies must be directed towards "charity in truth", inas-

much as truth preserves and channels the liberating power of charity amid

ever-contingent human events and structures. For "without truth, without

trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibil-

ity, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power,

resulting in social fragmentation".3

1 No. 21. 2 Cfr. ibid., 59. 3 Caritas in Veritate, 5.