Pope Francis said that the role of entrepreneurs is essential to creating new jobs, in a message to a gathering of French business leaders.
The Pope’s message—which was read to the gathering by Bishop Mattieu Rougé of Nanterre—emphasized the need for new ideas and new energy in building a firm. He said:
The first capital of your company is you: your heart, your conscience, your virtues, your will to live, your justice. This human, ethical and spiritual capital is worth more than economic and financial capital.
The Pontiff also expressed concern that many entrepreneurial efforts were badly hurt by the Covid lockdown. “There is little in the media about the difficulties and pain of entrepreneurs who close their businesses and fail through no fault of their own,” he remarked.