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Bishops Issue List of 10 Economic Principles

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In issuing a plea for the U.S. government to halt its retrenchment of aid to the poor at home and abroad, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops this week approved a 10-point “framework for economic life” outlining moral principles that the bishops said should guide Catholic thinking and, they hope, influence public policy.

The 10 points, which will be printed on pocket-size cards and become the basis of an education program among the nation’s 60 million Catholics, are:

* The economy exists for the person, not the other way around.

* Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the . . . person, support the family and serve the common good.

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* A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring.

* All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages, to decent working conditions as well as to organize and join unions and other associations.

* All people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, economic security).

* All people, to the extent they are able, have a corresponding duty to work, a responsibility to provide for their families and contribute to society.

* Free markets have clear advantages and limits; government has essential responsibilities and limitations; voluntary groups have irreplaceable roles, but cannot substitute for the proper working of the market or just policies of the state.

* Society has a moral obligation, including governmental action where necessary, to assure opportunity, meet basic human needs and pursue economic justice.

* Workers, owners, managers and consumers are moral agents in economic life. By our choices, initiative, creativity and investment, we enhance or diminish economic opportunity, community life and social justice.

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* The global economy has moral dimensions and human consequences. Decisions on investment, trade, aid and development should protect human life and promote human rights, especially for those most in need.

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