Pope means business.
Capitalism turned to Catholicism on Tuesday as some of the world’s biggest businessmen announced new partnerships with Pope Francis.
The alliance, known as the Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican, aims to create a more comprehensive, fair and sustainable economic landscape by promising sustainable development goals focused on areas such as climate action, peace and justice, quality education and gender equality. .
“There is an urgent need for an economic system that is just, credible and capable of meeting the most profound challenges facing humanity and our planet,” Pope Francis said in a statement.
The council consists of 27 key members, known as the Guardian of Capitalism, representing companies with a market capitalization of 2. 1.2 trillion and 200 million workers.
Members include Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, Salesforce CEO and founder Mark Benioff and MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga. The guardians will meet annually with Pope Francis and Cardinal Peter Turkson, the leader of Diaspora, to promote unified human development in the Vatican to further their vision and values.
“The fact that different religions need to come together on all matters is just a crying cry of time in our world,” Banga said in the council’s video introduction. “Faith cannot be used to separate us. Faith is to bring us together. ”
The establishment of this council, chaired by Managing Partner of Incorporated Capital Partners Lynn Forrester de Rothschild, demonstrates the collaborative efforts of environmental, social and governance-oriented efforts already taking place in the economic landscape.
Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would commit $ 30 billion over the next five years to advance racial equality while Apple and Microsoft unveiled plans to become carbon neutral and carbon negative over the next 10 years, respectively.
