With countries around the world undergoing reorganization after wars, nonviolent revolutions and, in the Sudan, a vote to split apart, the Catholic Church’s example for development holds valuable lessons. So said the economist Paul Collier in an address on Feb. 15 to the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington. Collier, the author of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, has been urging that developing countries follow the church’s example in providing basic services to the poor. What the Catholic Church has known for at least a century, he said, is that "what makes people committed to their work is not primarily financial incentives, it’s internalizing the objectives of the organization.”
Development Lessons
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Pope Francis was overwhelmingly popular with ordinary Catholics in the United States. But Francis’ priorities often failed to take root here.
“Pope Francis entered the papacy as a Jesuit, governed as one and died as one,” Father James Martin writes.
As Pope Francis’ legacy is debated in the coming weeks, one key area for examination will be his advancements of women in the Vatican, whether his changes were sufficient and whether they will last.
Pope Francis published official documents on the environment, the family, young people and more. Here is a list of some of his major documents.