Business, finance executives to discuss ethics in business

(June 15, 2011) A group of business executives and chairmen of multi-national corporations and financial institutions are beginning a 3-day meeting in the Vatican on Thursday to reflect upon best business management and practises that take ethics seriously. The June 16 to 18 “Executive Summit on Ethics for the Business World” is being organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in collaboration with ‘Regina Apostolorum’ university and the Fidelis International Institute run by the Legionaries of Christ. The summit discussion will largely focus on Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical "Caritas in Veritate," the Latin for "Charity in Truth." In the midst of global financial collapse, the encyclical advocated an ethics of finance rooted in the dignity of the person and the pursuit of the common good. Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council earlier told Vatican Radio that the Church should remind people of “the possibility of looking at things differently than to how they are used to do.” The Ghanian cardinal admitted he was no expert on business and finance but if he were to address such a gathering he would speak of conscientious business people who, “at a certain point, have had an experience of the Lord, of Christ, and have decided to do things differently.”