Pope Video: The world of finance

The Pope’s prayer intention for May 2021 is “May finances become instruments of service”. In his script for the video, the Pope returns to a theme he has often elaborated on during the pandemic, namely that the world is in crisis but that crises are a call to convert, to reform, to change. Specifically he draws attention to the world of finance. The lack of regulation in this field leaves the fate of ordinary people in the hands of speculators, he argues, and this is a dangerous and unsustainable situation. His prayer, then, is that finance would become “an instrument to serve the people, and to care for our common home”. He remains hopeful:

We still have time to begin a process of global change to practice a different kind of economy, one that is more just, more inclusive and sustainable —and leaves no one behind.
We can do this! And let us pray that those in charge of finance will work with governments to regulate financial markets and protect citizens from its dangers.

In the press release from the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network which accompanies the video, it is noted that this same theme was already covered in Fratelli tutti. In that encyclical he denounces the powerful interests that can lead to the creation of “a new culture in the service of the elite” in which “the poor always end up the losers.” (FT, 52) He identifies the need for governments not to allow political life to be subject to the “dictates of finance” and to build “the alternative social structures we need” so as to place human dignity back at the centre.