Isaías Hernando (Quintanar de la Sierra, Burgos, 1960), is a member of the global community of The Economy of Francesco/EoFand one of its authoritative voices. Among other reasons, because it has happened in the Economy of CommunionThe Focolare Movement/Work of Mary, a reality that arose in the Focolare Movement/Organ of Mary, to the Professor Luigino Bruniwho was then coordinator of the Economy of Communion, and is now the scientific director of EoF.
Professor Bruni is an advisor to the Pope in his leadership for a new economy, "an economy with a soul"as Isaías Hernando points out, whom we caught for this interview with one foot in the stirrup to Assisi (Italy), and with many tasks in hand.
What tasks involves the global coordination of Economy of Communion?
-It should be specified. The Economy of Communion (EoC) and the Francisco's Economy (EoF) are different realities. They have a certain relationship, in the sense that the Economy of Communion is part of the organizing committee of the Francisco's Economybut they are different things that have a different history.
Throughout the years of the history of the Economy of CommunionThe 31 companies have developed many different expressions in the fields of business, academia, culture, and also in the field of integral human development projects, and in many different places.
To coordinate means to look for the mechanisms so that all these very different expressions have a unity. So that the communion between all the people who are part of this movement is effective, and occurs at all levels. And also to understand together which are the answers that the Economy of Communion must be given today in today's world situation, which is different from that of 1991, when Chiara Lubich (founder of the Focolare Movement/Work of Mary) launched this proposal, and without losing its charismatic roots.
For this reason, coordination does not fall to one person, but to an international commission made up of nine people.
How did the Francisco's EconomyWhat are its most basic concepts?
-It arose from an intuition of Pope Francis, in the sense of making young people, with all the enthusiasm and creativity that characterizes them, the protagonists of the change that the world economy needs.
This intuition took shape as a result of some conversations with Prof. Luigino Bruni, who was then coordinator of the Economy of CommunionThe bishop of Assisi and others were later added to the group.
The Pope said then, on May 1, 2019, that an invitation should be launched to young economists, entrepreneurs and activists from all over the world, to meet with them in Assisi, and establish a pact to change the economy of today, and give a soul to the economy of tomorrow.
The Economy of Francisco is a global community, correct?
-We have already said that many of the young people who are part of this process already know each other, and have been on a journey together for some time.
We can say that it has become a global network, or better yet, a global community that wants to inspire its proposals and its action on two Franciscans: Francis of Assisi, who with his radical choice of poverty showed what are the best goods, and put the poor at the center of the economy; and Pope Francis, who above all through his two encyclicals, Laudato sí'., y Fratelli tuttiThe economy, which complements each other, proposes that the care of the planet cannot be separated from the care of human relationships, that everything is connected. In a way, these two "lighthouses" are the ones that mark the path of Francis' economy.
Who is the Pope's invitation for?
-In his invitation, in his letter of invitation, the Pope addresses himself specifically to young people, but not to exclude those of us who are no longer young from a transformation that the world economy needs, but so that these young people have a specific environment in which they can develop their proposals and projects with creativity, innovation, with a capacity for prophecy, to which the Pope alludes, and with a certain freedom, that is, without being forced to go through structures that already exist and have already been created and are in some way controlled by adults.
In any case, these are proposals and projects that are open to dialogue with everyone. Nor is it a matter of creating a bubble to isolate young people without having this dialogical dimension and relationship with others, and discussion of the proposals. To make this dialogue a reality, for example, many local groups have been created in the Francis community, where people of all ages and from all walks of life, and of all cultural levels, can dialogue and follow this process, with no other requirements than to share the objectives. Some have already been born. There are countries with more vitality and others with less. In Spain there are still few, but surely more will be born in the future.
What does the Francisco's Economy?
-The Francisco's Economy is not in itself a new economy. We could say that it is, as I have already said, a global community of people from all over the world, with a special protagonism of young people. It certainly promotes a more just, equitable and fraternal economy, in line with the economic principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church, with the accents added by Pope Francis, which are fundamentally the care of both the common home and of all people. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that this is a reality that is still in its infancy and needs time to produce more concrete and mature formulations.
There is also talk of inclusive growth to eradicate poverty. Do you see it possible to increasingly put people at the center of the economy?
-It is something that hardly anyone can be against. The times when it was thought that pure economic growth would indirectly eradicate poverty are long gone. Today we know that this is not the case. For many things, or for the most important things, it doesn't work.
Because economic growth has limits. On the one hand, one limit is the sustainability of the planet. It is not materially possible to exploit all resources in an unlimited way. And on the other hand, there are inequalities, which are another limit to growth. In other words, the accumulation of wealth in a few hands creates poor people and social problems. We believe that the concept of growth should be changed to include other aspects that have to do not only with Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also with well-being and integral human development.
In this sense, it is clear that the instruments of measurement should also be changed. What is the ideal measure to include these other aspects? GDP is not the ideal measure for integrating these other aspects. The success of an economy should not be measured, in my opinion, by the size of GDP, but by its capacity to integrate everyone, to redistribute wealth, and to leave to future generations, to our children, a planet at least as beautiful and fertile as we have found it. And to leave them an open future with possibilities and opportunities.
