In his encyclical Centesimus Annus (1991), number 43, Saint John Paul II   clearly warns against one of the most subtle temptations of contemporary capitalism: the absolutization of profit as the sole criterion of economic activity. The Pope does not condemn legitimate profit—which is necessary for the sustainability of any business—but rather its transformation into an ultimate end, an idol that demands human sacrifices: the time of families, the dignity of workers, the health of the planet, and, above all, the inner freedom of the business owner.

The universal destination of goods: the forgotten principle

The Church’s constant Magisterium, from  Rerum Novarum to  Laudato Si’, reminds us that the goods of creation have a “universal destination” (CCC 2402-2406; Gaudium et Spes  69;  Sollicitudo Rei Socialis  42). This means that private property is legitimate, but always subordinate to the common good and to the primary right of every human being to use the goods necessary for a dignified life.

When a company measures absolutely everything by ROI (return on investment) and decides on layoffs, offshoring, precarious employment, or environmental pollution solely to maximize dividends, it is violating this principle. As Benedict XVI wrote in Caritas in Veritate  21: “Profit is useful if it is directed as a means to an end which gives it meaning […] When it is absolutized, profit becomes a destructive criterion.”

“You cannot serve both God and money” (Mt 6:24)

The Gospel is unequivocal. Jesus doesn’t say that money is inherently evil, but rather that one cannot serve two masters. The obsession with maximizing profit paradoxically makes the entrepreneur the greatest slave of the system he himself runs.

Saint John Paul II expressed it bluntly in Centesimus Annus  41: “The error of primitive capitalism can be repeated wherever man is treated in any way on the same level as the whole complex of material means of production, as an instrument and not in accordance with the true dignity of his work.”

The businessman who lives in anguish over stock market performance, who sacrifices sleep and family life to close the quarter in the black, who fears investment funds more than his own conscience, has been devoured by Mammon. The idol doesn’t just demand external victims (workers, the environment, suppliers); it demands, above all, the soul of the worshiper.

Testimonies from recent Catholic tradition

• Saint Oscar Romero already denounced in 1979: “A civilization of having more than being produces selfishness and death.”
• The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (n. 328) states: “Economic activity is called to be a service to the integral man and to the whole human community.”
• In Fratelli Tutti 168, Francis   warns: “The market alone does not solve everything […] Financial speculation with easy profit as its fundamental goal continues to wreak havoc.”

Towards an economy with soul

The Church does not propose a return to a pre-industrial economy or the demonization of business. It proposes a clear hierarchy of values:

1. The human person is above capital and profit.
2. Work is not a commodity, but participation in God’s creative work.
3. Legitimate profit is a means, never an ultimate end.
4. Every business decision must be able to stand face to face in individual judgment: “Have I served the common good or only my bottom line?”

Liberation from the idol

The absolute maximization of profit is indeed one of the most sophisticated and all-consuming idols of our time. It demands continuous sacrifices and is never satisfied. Only a conversion of heart—of the entrepreneur, the investor, the consumer—can break the chains.

As Saint John Paul II wrote in  Centesimus Annus  43: “It is necessary to break down the barriers and monopolies that leave so many peoples on the margins of development […] and to work for an economy that is at the service of the human person.”

Only when the entrepreneur regains the freedom to serve God before money will he have truly begun to be free. And only then will his company cease to be an altar where souls are sacrificed and become an instrument of civilization based on love.