"True wealth is sharing," Pope Francis comments in an audience with businessmen.Ethics in the company: a serious, clear and profitable spiritual accompaniment
Enrique Shaw is an Argentine businessman who is on his way to the altars. On January 9, 2025 a miracle performed through his intercession passed the medical instance. This means that, if all goes well and the miracle also receives the approval of the Commission of Theologians, the Pope will promulgate the decree of Shaw's beatification.
The life of this Argentinean man was characterized by the virtues of a businessman who in the mid-twentieth century put into practice the social responsibility of the company. Many today consider Shaw a good family man and an exemplary worker who sanctified his responsibility as a businessman.
In this interview, Silvia Bulla, the current president of ACDE Argentina (Christian Association of Business Leaders), talks about Enrique Shaw. For more than 70 years, ACDE has contributed to transmitting the teachings of the Church in the world of finance and business.
The business world seems not to be a place for Christians because business or money are not good advisors. Is it possible to be a Christian entrepreneur?
- Many times I have heard this question in different environments and the answer I have found is that God calls us to holiness in the place where we live. Not without challenges, because those of us who are in business have moments of difficulty, of despair, of dilemmas. In those moments our faith illuminates what we have to do. The Social Doctrine of the Church and the Gospel challenge us to see, judge and act. In this sense, the letter of the Holy Father in which he relates the work of the entrepreneur to the Parable of the Good Shepherd, who knows his sheep and calls them by name, is significant.
What impact can a Christian entrepreneur have?
- Entrepreneurs have a noble mission to provide jobs, develop their employees and conduct business in an ethical manner and make it prosper. Failure to do so puts everything at risk.
In this time of being president of ACDE I have met great entrepreneurs. They are those who develop their people, those who include people with disabilities, those who improve the environment, and those who achieve very positive exchanges with the communities in which their production plants are located.
What is ACDE?
- ACDE is an association of businessmen, entrepreneurs, business leaders and professionals who intend to bring Christian social thought to the business world. We are people who want to follow the legacy of our founder, Enrique Shaw, to the business world in Argentina, impregnating companies with our evangelizing vocation. And the important thing is that we are not alone. We are approximately 1200 in ArgentinaWe are part of the Uniapac Network, with more than 40 institutions from different countries around the world. We recently met in Manila to nurture each other and contribute together to improve the complex reality of a world full of inequalities and wars.
Who is the founder of ACDE, Enrique Shaw?
- Enrique was a businessman, sailor, father of a family, committed Catholic who, in his short life of 42 years, left an exemplary legacy of living the social doctrine of the Church in the business environment. He is currently Venerable and, God willing, may be the first businessman to be designated Blessed.
What does Enrique Shaw teach us about the business world when we live it with a Christian spirit?
- He was known for the joy he brought to work, for interposing the interests of employees in business decisions, for the quality of relations with unions and also for taking care of the work even of employees of competing companies.
From your position as president of ACDE, how do you see the future of Argentina in this aspect?
- I am beginning the second half of my term and I like to take stock. I see a vibrant ACDE, with great growth, with more women participating, with more groups in provinces joining the Network, with many more young people. All this gives me a very hopeful outlook. I see a country that wants to continue basing its business relationships on Christ. All this gives me great hope.
