Holy See criticizes trade protectionism

(December 20, 2011) A senior Vatican official has urged the world’s wealthy nations to shun protectionism and open up their markets to goods from poorer nations. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, made the exhortation while addressing the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dec. 15-17. “Evidence from the recent financial crisis has shown us that trade has been an effective tool in helping a rapid recovery,” he said. “Now the primary challenge WTO faces is to sustain this approach and discourage countries to give in to the temptation of protectionism that promises to deliver some illusory short-run benefits while preventing more conspicuous long-term gains.” “An additional burden could be imposed on the shoulders of the young and of the poor if they are deprived of such an effective tool for improving the economy as an open trade,” he added. Archbishop Tomasi reminded the conference of the need for an ethical foundation for trade saying “ethics is not an external element of the economy and the economy does not have a future if it does not take into account the ethical dimension.” Every economic decision, he said, has a moral consequence. “The economy needs an ethical perspective centred on the person and able to offer sure points of reference to new generations,” he added.