TO ENTREPRENEURS: GIVE PRECEDENCE TO ETHICS, FAMILIES, YOUTH

VATICAN CITY, FEB 22, 2003 (VIS) - The Pope today received 350 participants in a meeting promoted by the National Federation of Knights of Work and told them that they "represent not only a chosen group of Italian entrepreneurs, but also promoters of solid and well-balanced growth of the national economy."

In opening remarks to the group, the Pope invited them "to make your attention to ethical and moral principles a priority in your work." He asked them to "be the first witnesses" of the universal duty that he spoke of in the Encyclical "Sollicitudo rei socialis': "Collaborating in the development of the whole person and of every human being is in fact a duty of all towards all."

"This is," he added, "an even more urgent duty in the light of the current evolution of society, marked by the process of globalization, within which must be safeguarded the value of solidarity, the guarantee of access to resources and the equitable distribution of the riches produced."

"In contemporary society," affirmed John Paul II, "the family, not infrequently, seems penalized by rules imposed by production and by the market. Among your efforts, therefore, must be that of sustaining the family efficaciously so that it is always more respected as an active subject also by the sector of production and the economy." He noted the attention and encouragement they give to young people, and said: "Continue to invest in young people, helping them to overcome the breach that exists between scholastic formation and the real needs of the production industry."

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