The globalization of the economy

Monday, November 24 1997

Vatican City (CCCB) — Archbishop Henri Goudreault, O.M.I., of Grouard-McLennan , in an intervention at the Synod of Bishops’ Special Assembly for America, says “the race for profits in our world has put the human person at the service of the economy, when the economy should be at the service of people.”

“Governments are having to compete with one another,” he said, “in order to offer the financial giants ever greater advantages and guarantees.”

Archbishop Goudreault was intervening on behalf of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to No. 28 of the Instrumentum Laboris dealing with the economic sphere as an aspect of today’s society requiring conversion.

“The globalization of the economy by multinational corporations is now a reality,” he said. “Two hundred multinational corporations control more than a quarter of the world’s economy, and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) currently being negotiated will give these corporations even greater freedom and power.”

Archbishop Goudreault said the price being paid for this involves heavy costs in employment, the environment, natural and human resources and culture.

In concluding his presentation, the Archbishop listed five possible actions that could be taken on this question:

• educating people about the social teachings of the Church;
• governments to cease being puppets in the hands of the financial giants;
• encouraging NGOs (non-governmental organizations) such as the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace to use their bargaining force;
• encouraging strong labour unions that will demand humane working conditions;
• and in the spirit of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, considering the partial or total forgiveness of the debts of poor countries.

Archbishop Goudreault indicated the forgiveness of debts is a complex question that demands expertise and will probably have to involve several different approaches.