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Laudato Si’ Reflectiedag

Catholics in support of a sustainable financial system

gepubliceerd: vrijdag, 22 juni 2018
Laudato Si’ Reflectiedag

In his ope­ning speech, Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, Archbishop of Lu­xem­burg and
Presi­dent of COMECE and «Justice and Peace Europe», insisted on the timeliness of
the event in the immediate aftermath of a recent legislative proposal by the
European Commission and last week’s report of the European Parlia­ment on
sustainable finance. He also referred to the recent Vatican do­cu­ment on the
present economic-fi­nan­cial system, which includes a call for a sustainable
manage­ment of savings.
 
Mrs Molly Scott Cato, MEP and rapporteur of last week’s own-initiative report on
sustainable finance, insisted on a dynamic approach regar­ding the sustainability
of fi­nan­cial products. She also stressed the important role of public fi­nan­cial
institutions like the European Invest­ment Bank in this respect.
 
Mr Martin Spolc (EU Commission) presented the action plan for sustainable finance
and the preparatory work on the taxonomy for a clear and common language across
Europe that could help to avoid the «green-washing» of fi­nan­cial products for
marke­ting reasons.
 
Ms. Lorna Gold, from the Irish Catholic Develop­ment or­ga­ni­sa­tion Trocaire and
Vice Chair of the Global Catholic Climate Move­ment, called for coherence in an
era of climate change and discussed ethical invest­ment as a challenge for the
Church. She also presented the Catholic Divest-Invest Project, invi­ting Catholic
institutions to start an internal process on fossil fuels divest­ment and to join
other Catholic institutions worldwide in taking a strong prophetic stand for our
common home.
 
In the afternoon session, best practises coming from a Catholic diocese, a
Catholic bishops’ conference, a religious order and a Catholic bank were
presented.
 
Participants formulated a number of recommendations, which will be presented to
the Laudato Si’ anniversary conference (Vatican, July 2018).
 
They also suggested that the Catholic Church should pay more attention to the
social and environ­mental injustices caused by an economic and fi­nan­cial system
solely based on short-term profit.
 
As Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’: "We are faced not
with two separate crises, one environ­mental and the other social. Strategies for
a solution demand for an in­te­grated approach to figh­ting poverty, resto­ring
dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protec­ting nature." (LS 139).
 
As a concrete way to “hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”,
participants suggested that more and more Catholic or­ga­ni­sa­tions and move­ments
commit themselves to start an internal process on fossil fuels divest­ment and,
thus, join other Catholic institutions worldwide in taking a strong prophetic
stand for «our common home».
 
In this regard, one forthco­ming occasion is the Catholic Divest­ment Announce­ment
that will be held during the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, on
September 12-14, 2018.
 
The event was co-organised by the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences in the EU
(COMECE), the Council of Bishops’ Conferences in Europe (CCEE), the Global
Catholic Climate Move­ment and the network of Justice and Peace Europe.

Bron: www.comece.eu/first-laudato-si-reflection-day-catholics-in-support-of-a-sustainable-fi­nan­cial-system