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The late pope and the path to a just economy
Drawing on the insights he gained during his upbringing and experience in Argentina, Francis advocated for upholding human dignity and togetherness as a means of resolving the moral ills of economic injustice and convened a Jubilee Commission to tackle the deepening global crisis of debt and development.
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A student sprinkles flowers over a framed portrait of the late Pope Francis on April 22, 2025, at Santa Stanislaus junior high school in Surabaya, East Java. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
W
ith the passing of Pope Francis, the world has lost an extraordinary leader. But his legacy will endure, not only in the hearts of those he inspired but also in the concrete efforts he set in motion to build a more just, humane and sustainable global economy.
Born Jorge Bergoglio in Argentina, Pope Francis knew firsthand the cruelty of economic injustice.
He came of age in one of the world’s most volatile economies, a country where repeated economic and foreign debt crises cast long shadows over generations of children and families. He saw what happens when economic systems serve vested interests rather than the people: high inequality, broken communities and widespread social ills like crime, addiction and insecurity.
As pope, Francis brought those insights to the global stage. His voice became one of the most powerful moral forces in the world, not only reminding us of our shared humanity but also challenging the institutional structures that deny dignity to billions of people.
As members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in the Vatican, we had the privilege and pleasure of maintaining a frequent dialogue with him. His concern was urgent and grounded in lived reality. “Transforming reality requires action on the ground, not only work in the lab,” he used to say in private.
Francis saw an economic system that too often prioritized profit over people and selfishness over cooperation.
He knew that while markets can be a powerful tool, markets unbound by appropriate rules and regulations would produce injustice on a planetary scale, including the gravest injustice of all: the destruction of our environment, which he called “our common home” in his encyclical Laudato Si’.
