The Catholic Church can do much more to fight corruption and promote economies that put citizens’ needs ahead of individual interests and private gains, said some participants at a Vatican-sponsored conference.

Bribery, patronage, extortion, embezzlement, nepotism and other abuses of power for personal gain are unethical, hinder economic growth and development, and divert needed resources from going to the poor, participants said at a June 2-3 conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Some 80 experts from across the world were invited to the closed-door meetings. Participants included Church leaders, government advisers and representatives of local non-governmental organisations, the United Nations and the World Bank, including its president, Paul Wolfowitz.

Both the council's president, Cardinal Renato Martino, and its secretary, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, said corruption has increased due to globalisation, so greater global efforts are needed to prevent, monitor and prosecute corruption.

In many parts of the world, Church officials have played an important role in speaking out against corruption and even acting as whistle-blowers against corrupt practices, but Cardinal Martino said in written remarks June 3 that the Church “must do more and must do better.”

One participant said some surveys have shown that countries with a predominantly Catholic population tend to be more corrupt and that the average citizen in these countries tends to be more tolerant of corruption.

Jong-Sung You, a doctoral fellow at Harvard University's Inequality and Social Policy Programme, told Catholic News Service June 2 that countries with a large proportion of Protestants not only put into place more controls against bribery, but the citizens are also less tolerant of corruption.

The data concerning people's religion and their values, including their tolerance of corruption and bribery, come from two polls -- one from 1995 and another from 1999-2001 -- conducted by World Values Survey.

The South Korean scholar said there are several theories as to why Catholic countries like Mexico, Italy and the Philippines would be more corrupt and tolerate corruption.

But while the surveys’ findings are “disturbing and uncomfortable”, the Church can take advantage of its historically influential role in society, he said. Just as the Church in countries led by authoritarian regimes eventually helped overthrow dictatorships and usher in democracy during the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the Catholic Church can “switch to (be) an anti-corruption force,” he said.

Cardinal Martino said the Church “must put all its religious and moral energy” into fighting a phenomena that has become a “cancer of global corruption,” including “stigmatising corruption and denouncing its evil effects.”

Archbishop Peter Turang of Kupang, Indonesia, told CNS that during the 1967-1998 highly corrupt regime of former President Suharto, the Church did “very little to make the regime understand better that people's lives are more important than the material gain of the elite.”

Unfortunately, the immense poverty that ensues from a corrupt economy and regime forces many average citizens to become corrupt, he said.

“They look for the best and easiest way to survive,” which often means engaging in illegal activity or succumbing to public officials' demands for bribes, he said.

Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel, Philippines, told journalists that thanks to Church efforts the poor in his region of Mindanao are no longer forced to pay bribes to receive basic public services. He said the problem is no longer rampant because government officials are more hesitant to abuse their powers “because they know the Church is serious in fighting corruption.”

Not only have the Philippine bishops published four documents against corruption, they are involved in promoting educational programmes, voter awareness campaigns, and monitoring the performance and living standards of officials. Also, some parishes have their own groups of lawyers bringing civil cases against corrupt officials, he added.

While the importance of instilling ethical values in citizens and public officials is key, existing international controls to monitor and penalise the guilty must be implemented, many participants said.

Bishop Crepaldi said free, open markets regulated by clear juridical and ethical rules will help fight corruption.

The Church promotes “true development” that is the fruit of a “clean” economy in which the entrepreneurial spirit is marked not by greed and self-interest, but by the virtues of “diligence, industriousness, prudence,” reliability and fidelity, as well as “courage in carrying out decisions which are difficult and painful, but necessary,” he said.
(CNS)