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Transparency in Business: The Perspective of Catholic Social Teaching and the “Caritas in Veritate”

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Abstract

Transparency in business and society is one of the challenges raised in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate by Benedict XVI. This paper focuses on the issue by extending the literature on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and corporate transparency in two dimensions. First, it reviews the understanding and framing of the transparency issue in Caritas in Veritate and in a selection of relevant Catholic Social Teaching (CST) publications. Second, this paper provides normative indications for corporate transparency decisions which reflect four permanent principles of CST, that is, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, and respect for the human being. Inasmuch as human beings are worthy of love for their own sakes, the dimension of gift should always be present in relationships among them. This paper also provides insights for further studies on corporate transparency and the impact of religion on business ethics and corporate social responsibility.

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Notes

  1. Although the Church’s mission consists of evangelization, this cannot be achieved while turning its back on the challenge of authentic human development. That is why the Church considers it both a duty and a right to proclaim the truth about Christ, about itself and about human beings, insofar as this sheds light on what ought to be done in concrete situations (John Paul 1987b, p. 41). Hence, whereas Catholics are expected to adhere to CST on the grounds both of a “reasonable faith” and a “faithful reason”, non-Catholics and even non-believers can still express allegiance to CST principles, at least on the basis of “reasonableness”.

  2. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church is a document released in 2004 that systematically presents the foundations of the social doctrine of Roman Catholic Church. It is divided in 12 chapters or 583 points. This paper uses this last division to make the necessary references to the text.

  3. “Hence it is to be hoped that all international agencies and non-governmental organizations will commit themselves to complete transparency, informing donors and the public of the percentage of their income allocated to programs of cooperation, the actual content of those programs and, finally, the detailed expenditure of the institution itself” (CV 47).

  4. To be more precise, the Pope makes a broader claim in this important passage of the encyclical. On one hand, He acknowledges transparency as a traditional principle of social ethics. On the other hand, He asks us to look beyond by addressing the principle of gratuitousness and the logic of gift: "To demonstrate, in thinking and behavior, not only that traditional principles of social ethics like transparency, honesty and responsibility cannot be ignored or attenuated, but also that in commercial relationships the principle of gratuitousness and the logic of gift as an expression of fraternity can and must find their place within normal economic activity." (CV 36).

  5. Available ar http://www.edcombs.com/CM/Notices/Notices156.asp. Accessed 16 September 2011.

  6. For a more comprehensive analysis of the common good according to CST and business ethics, see Alford and Naughton (2002); Melé (2002); Argandoña (1998); Manzone (2002); Koslowski (2005).

  7. “The very rapid expansion in ways and means of communication “in real time”, such as those offered by information technology ….all bear witness to the fact that…it is now possible … to establish relationships between people who are separated by great distances and are unknown to each other…” (Compendium 192).

  8. This principle is founded on an anthropological understanding of human beings introduced in the Old Testament and developed by Boethius, Thomas Aquinas (see, for example, the Summa Theologiae, I, 2, 2), Jacques Maritain and a number of Italian Jesuits in the mid-nineteenth century who inspired part of the Rerum Novarum.

Abbreviations

CST:

Catholic social teaching

NGOs:

Non-governmental organizations

ICTs:

Information and communication technologies

Compendium:

Compendium of the social doctrine of the church

Catechism:

Catechism of the Catholic church

CV:

Caritas in Veritate

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Avenida Pearson, 21, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Antonino Vaccaro

  2. School of Business and Economics, Catholic University of Portugal, Católica Lisbon, Palma de Cima, 1649-023, Lisboa, Portugal

    Antonino Vaccaro

  3. Philosophy Department, University of Navarra, Library Building, 31080, Pamplona, Spain

    Alejo José G. Sison

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  1. Antonino Vaccaro
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Correspondence to Alejo José G. Sison.

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Vaccaro, A., Sison, A.J.G. Transparency in Business: The Perspective of Catholic Social Teaching and the “Caritas in Veritate”. J Bus Ethics 100 (Suppl 1), 17–27 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1184-3

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