Holy Father, pray for us sinners

The World Congress of Chartered Accountants was held in Rome, Italy, from November 10-13, 2014. Pope France I was meant to declare the conference open but owing to the fact that the event was right in the midst of a very hectic schedule for the Holy Father, the programme was amended in order to allow the Pontiff to receive chartered accountants from all over the world in the Vatican. Right in the front row was an elderly Catholic knight from Nigeria (a retired senior partner of Deloitte). He was in a wheelchair but he looked blissfully happy. Seated directly behind him were the retired partners of KPMG who are still waiting for their gratuity and pension.

We were sandwiched between chartered accountants from the United States of America (who along with their spouses became emotional and proceeded to shed tears of joy) and some nuns from Argentina who are responsible for keeping the books of Catholic schools and hospitals in South America. They were clearly mesmerised by the Holy Father whom they remembered as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Holy Father spoke from the heart on 14th November, 2014:

“Dear accountants, I give you my cordial welcome on the occasion of your World Congress, and I thank Madam President of the International Federation for her words of introduction. You have come together to focus on a shared vision of the future, addressing the different experiences matured in your countries of origin. It is an important moment, be it to address the problems entailed in your profession today, be it to renew awareness of the fact that it is also a service to the community. And you wished to insert this moment within your Congress, which calls you back to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as a perennial source of inspiration for personal and social renewal.

“The present socio-economic context poses in a pressing way the question of work. From your professional observation, you are well aware of the dramatic reality of so many persons who have precarious occupations, or have lost them; of so many families that pay the consequences; of so many young people in search of their first employment and dignified work. There are many, especially immigrants, who are constrained to work ‘in nero’ [without contract] and lack the most elementary legal and economic guarantees.

“In this context, the temptation is stronger to defend one’s own interests without concern for the common good, without paying too much attention to justice and legality. Required of all, therefore, especially those who exercise a profession that has to do with the good functioning of the economic life of a country, is to play a positive, constructive role in the daily unfolding of their work, knowing that behind every charter there is a history, there are faces. In this commitment that, as we were saying, requires the cooperation of all, the Christian professional draws every day from prayer and the Word of God the strength, first of all, to do his duty with competence and wisdom, and then to ‘go beyond’, which means to go to meet the person in difficulty, to exercise that creativity that enables one to find solutions in blocked situations, to apply the reasons of human dignity in face of the rigidities of bureaucracy.

“The economy and finance are dimensions of human activity and can be occasions of encounter, of dialogue, of cooperation, of recognized rights and services rendered, of dignity affirmed in work. However, for this it is necessary to always put man with his dignity at the centre, opposing the dynamics that tend to assimilate everything and put money at the top. When money becomes the end and the reason for every activity and initiative, then the utilitarian view prevails and the wild logic of profit, which does not respect persons, with the consequent widespread fall of the values of solidarity and respect of the human person.

“All those called to work in various capacities in the economy and finance, are called to make choices that foster the social and economic well-being of the whole of humanity, offering everyone the opportunity to realize his own development. In your activity, you accountants support businesses, but also families and individuals, in giving your economic and financial advice.

“I encourage you to act always responsibly, fostering relations of loyalty, justice and, if possible, of brotherhood, addressing with courage especially the problems of the weakest and the poorest. It is not enough to give concrete answers to economic and material questions. It is necessary to arouse and cultivate an ethic of economy, of finance and of work. It is necessary to keep alive the value of solidarity as a moral attitude, expression of care for the other in every legitimate need of his. If we want to give future generations an improved environmental, economic, cultural and social patrimony than we inherited, we are called to assume the responsibility to work for a globalization of solidarity. Solidarity is a requirement that flows from the network itself of the interconnections that are developing with globalization. And the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches us that the principle of solidarity is carried out in harmony with that of subsidiarity. Thanks to the effect of these two principles, processes are geared to the service of man and justice grows, without which there cannot be true and lasting peace.

“While I leave you these simple points of reflection, I entrust each of you and your work to the protection of the Virgin Mary. I bless you from my heart and ask you, please, to pray for me. Thank you.”

By the time the Pontiff, who spoke in Italian, delivered the supplication “pray for me” with utmost sincerity and genuine humility, there was not a dry eye left in the entire hall. It was magical. Even those who could not speak Italian language got the message perfectly. No need for translation.

The enfeebled retired partner of Deloitte leapt out of his wheelchair to join in the standing ovation for the Holy Father. He was miraculously healed!

Unknown to the general public, the supervising ministry for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria [ICAN] is the Ministry of Education which has been reviewing public trust and confidence in chartered accountants, a year after the divine exhortations of Pope Francis I.

The first salvo was carried on the front page of The Punch newspaper of October 12, 2015. Headline:  “Jonathan Didn’t Value EFCC Reports”.

It turned out that on the very day Pope Francis was addressing the World Congress of Chartered Accountants, the Edo State governor was in possession of privileged information going by the front page headline of The Punch newspaper of October 7, 2015: “Diezani’s Arrest Didn’t Surprise Me – Oshiomhole”.

J.K Randle