Pope Francis Meets Workers in Buenos Aires
On November 9 at 4:10 p.m. local time, Pope Leons XIV met with workers from various sectors, business leaders, trade union representatives, and university students at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina.
The gathering brought together diverse members of the working world in Buenos Aires to discuss labor, dignity, and social justice.
The Theological View of Labor
Drawing from the 1981 encyclical Exercising Hard Work by St. John Paul II, the pope reminded attendees that humans participate directly in the Creator’s ongoing work. Work serves as a core social reality that shapes human dignity and respects the order of creation.
Modern economic structures frequently reduce employees to mere metrics of efficiency. To counter this, Pope Francis pointed to the integral ecology framework from the 2015 encyclical Praise be to you, urging leaders to align technical development with natural rhythms.
Larger Institutions Must Support Local Community Initiatives
The church teaches that neither governments nor large corporations should absorb local community initiatives. Instead, larger institutions must support and strengthen grassroots efforts, a principle Pope Pius XI integrated into Catholic social doctrine in 1931.
Informal workers like artisans and farmers exemplify active subsidiarity by organizing from the bottom up. These groups champion the foundational requirements of land, roof, and work.
Business Should Serve Community Well-Being over Profit
Business serves as a powerful vehicle for community well-being rather than a tool for accumulating private wealth. The pontiff warned against the absolutization of profit, which dehumanizes commercial enterprises.
Artificial intelligence and automation present distinct threats to employment stability today. Public authorities must ensure that job accessibility remains a primary criterion of economic policy, keeping algorithms strictly subordinated to human ethics.
Frequently Asked Questions
The pontiff referenced Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Praise be to you.