127. We are convinced that “man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social
life”.
100
Nonetheless, once our human capacity for contemplation and reverence is impaired, it
becomes easy for the meaning of work to be misunderstood.
101
We need to remember that men and
women have “the capacity to improve their lot, to further their moral growth and to develop their
spiritual endowments”.
102
Work should be the setting for this rich personal growth, where many
aspects of life enter into play: creativity, planning for the future, developing our talents, living out our
values, relating to others, giving glory toGod. It follows that, in the realityof today’s global society, it
is essential that “we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone”,
103
no
matter the limited interests of business and dubious economic reasoning.
128. We were created with a vocation to work. The goal should not be that technological progress
increasingly replace humanwork, for this would be detrimental to humanity. Work is a necessity, part
of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human development and personal fulfilment.
Helping the poor financiallymust always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The
broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life throughwork. Yet the orientation of
the economy has favoured a kind of technological progress in which the costs of production are
reduced by laying offworkers and replacing themwithmachines. This is yet anotherway inwhichwe
can end up working against ourselves. The loss of jobs also has a negative impact on the economy
“through the progressive erosion of social capital: the network of relationships of trust, dependability,
and respect for rules, all of which are indispensable for any form of civil coexistence”.
104
In other
words, “human costs always include economic costs, and economic dysfunctions always involve
human costs”.
105
To stop investing in people, in order to gain greater short-term financial gain, is bad
business for society.
129. In order to continue providing employment, it is imperative to promote an economy which
favours productive diversity and business creativity. For example, there is a great variety of small-
100
SECONDVATICAN ECUMENICALCOUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in theModernWorld
Gaudium
et Spes
, 63.
101
Cf. JOHNPAUL II, Encyclical Letter
CentesimusAnnus
(1May1991), 37:AAS83 (1991), 840.
102
PAULVI, Encyclical Letter
PopulorumProgressio
(26March1967), 34:AAS59 (1967), 274.
103
BENEDICTXVI,Encyclical Letter
Caritas inVeritate
(29 June 2009), 32:AAS 101 (2009), 666.
104
Ibid.
105
Ibid.
