Index
- Historical testimonies
- Social teaching and the spirit of Opus Dei
- The centrality of the person & the company as a community of persons
- Justice and charity
- A businessman on the path to the altars: Enrique Shaw
Historical testimonies
If we want to understand St. Josemaría's vision was for management and business schools, we need to turn to historical testimonies. One of these is provided by Francisco Ponz Piedrafita, who would in time become Rector of the University of Navarre. He recounts that "in the late 1940s, during his visits to Barcelona, where I was living, Bl. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer would sometimes speak of the apostolic importance of improving the formation and Christian life of so many people in Catalonia who were engaged in running companies of all kinds, whether private, family-owned, or social enterprises. He would point out the spiritual and social benefits if those who bore responsibility for promoting, directing, and developing businesses were exemplary Christians who always acted according to their faith, with sound professional and Christian judgement, in accordance with the teachings and moral principles of the Church, with a spirit of service towards their employees and workers and towards society in general, without allowing themselves to be swept along by merely human ambitions or the simple desire for material enrichment."[1]
It is interesting to note how, from the very beginning, St. Josemaría was aware of the importance of forming business leaders who were both well-prepared professionals and coherent Christians, because from this would flow great benefit for the rest of society.
The founder of Opus Dei was a "man of desires" who strove to turn his dreams into reality. Some years later, he felt the moment had come to set in motion an initiative of this kind in the business world. Professor Antonio Valero, one of the pioneers of IESE,[2] recounts the following: "In the summer of 1956 or 1957, I was asked very informally by the Regional Vicariate [sic] of Opus Dei in Spain whether I would be willing to accept the task of thinking about some apostolic and educational project in the area of business. That was how brief and concise it was, and I said yes, with equal brevity."[3] Despite the conciseness of the guidance received, the essentials were there: a business school promoted by members of Opus Dei had to have an educational dimension (technical and professional formation) and, inseparably united to it, an apostolic dimension.
On IESE's 50th anniversary, Javier Echevarría, then Prelate of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of the University of Navarre, affirmed that, when St. Josemaría encouraged the creation of IESE, he already foresaw how an institution of great professional standing would develop over time, dedicated to the formation and advancement of business leaders and executives, and which would include, at the heart of its mission, a clear aspiration to service and a determination to give work a fully Christian focus, and therefore a truly human one.[4]
In November 1972, when IESE had been in operation for a few years, St. Josemaría visited it. We have a recording of the gathering, which was attended by a good number of people associated with the business school. On that occasion, responding to a certain insufficiently secular mindset that considered economic and commercial activities to be incompatible with an authentically Christian life — perhaps owing to the tendency to present religious life as the model of holiness — he chose to read various passages from the Gospel in which the Lord's appreciation for such activities is evident. I would like to quote him at length:
"This is from St. Luke, chapter 19. There was a powerful man who had to go away. He distributes his money among his servants for them to manage. To one he gives one portion, to another another… When he returns and discovers that one servant has not multiplied the capital, he says: 'Why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have recovered it with interest?' Is that not a business deal? A modest one — the kind you don't much like doing. But a business deal all the same. And the Lord praises it. I have no choice but to praise you too.
"St. Matthew records yet another parable: that of the dragnet. Here things go so-so, because both good and bad fish go into the net… They have to be patient. They drag the net to the shore; they pick out the good ones and put them in baskets. And the bad ones… Out! They did business, but not the kind they had hoped for.
"Sometimes in our businesses there are many difficulties. The Gospel of St. Matthew reminds us of the sower who sows good seed… The enemy, the adversary, comes and sows weeds among it. What does he do? He is patient: we'll leave this here and without disturbing it; the moment will come. And the when right time arrives, he harvests everything… And he has done good business. He has overcome the difficulty.
"Tomorrow, in the Holy Mass [...] I shall ask the Lord to bless you; to give you the serenity of the owner of the field when weeds are sown in it [...], so that the Lord may give you the resolve to buy the field where the treasure is hidden; that He may give you the necessary impetus to go after the most precious pearl [...]. Your business dealings are embedded in the Gospel. The Lord looks upon you with affection [...]. I too look upon you all with a special fondness. I have praised you with the words of Jesus Christ; words I make my own, because I am his priest."
Social teaching and the spirit of Opus Dei
St. Josemaría always considered an adequate knowledge of the Church's social teaching to be essential to the formation of Christians. He even dreamed of having the fundamental principles of social morality included in the catechism of the Christian faith. Clearly, the need for sound formation in this area is all the more urgent for those who bear particular social responsibilities; among them, businessmen and businesswomen. He therefore wanted all teaching in any business school to be imbued with social doctrine.
The Church's social teaching provides the basic principles for building a society in accordance with God's plan for the world.[5] At the same time, there are countless technical or practical problems that may be approached in very different ways, and in which the responsible freedom of each professionally trained citizen must prevail. In a letter published in 1966, he affirmed that "Catholic teaching does not impose specific, technical solutions to temporal problems; but it does ask of you that you have sensitivity towards those human problems, and a sense of responsibility to face up to them and bring them to a Christian resolution."[6]
St. Josemaría had a great love for freedom. On countless occasions he referred to "the personal freedom that laypeople have to take — in the light of the principles set forth by the Magisterium — all concrete decisions of a theoretical or practical nature — for example, in relation to the various philosophical, economic-scientific, or political opinions [...] — that each person judges in conscience to be most fitting and most in keeping with their own personal convictions and human abilities."[7]
In the case of schools run or supported by members of Opus Dei, alongside the social teaching just mentioned, the sanctification of work (the central element of the spirit of Opus Dei) would also have to inspire all their activity. The call to holiness is universal, and God seeks the majority of people out in the midst of their professional endeavours. That is why St. Josemaría hoped that business schools would work with professional excellence, purity of intention, and a spirit of service — the indispensable conditions for sanctifying work.
The centrality of the person & the company as a community of persons
One of the guiding principles of the Church's social doctrine is the centrality of the human person. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church clearly states:
"All of social life is an expression of its unmistakable protagonist: the human person. The Church has many times and in many ways been the authoritative advocate of this understanding, recognizing and affirming the centrality of the human person in every sector and expression of society: 'Human society is therefore the object of the social teaching of the Church since she is neither outside nor over and above socially united men, but exists exclusively in them and, therefore, for them.' This important awareness is expressed in the affirmation that 'far from being the object or passive element of social life' the human person 'is rather, and must always remain, its subject, foundation and goal.' The origin of social life is therefore found in the human person, and society cannot refuse to recognize its active and responsible subject; every expression of society must be directed towards the human person."[8]
One of the expressions of society is its economic dimension, which means that the economy must always be oriented towards the integral good of the human person, and that whenever a person is involved in an economic process, he or she must always be treated as an end in themselves, with respect for their dignity, and never as a means. It follows that the theory of economism — which reduces all of existence to its material dimension — is contrary to Christian doctrine and to natural ethics itself. This theory is shared both by early capitalism, which identifies society with the market, and by Marxism, which derives all social superstructures from the economic structure of society.
The Compendium in turn develops a vision of the company from a personalist perspective: "Businesses should be characterized by their capacity to serve the common good of society through the production of useful goods and services. In seeking to produce goods and services according to plans aimed at efficiency and at satisfying the interests of the different parties involved, businesses create wealth for all of society, not just for the owners but also for the other subjects involved in their activity. Besides this typically economic function, businesses also perform a social function, creating opportunities for meeting, cooperating and the enhancement of the abilities of the people involved. In a business undertaking, therefore, the economic dimension is the condition for attaining not only economic goals, but also social and moral goals, which are all pursued together."[9]
Every economically healthy business ought to generate profits. Numbers will always be fundamental in any economic activity. At the same time, behind the economic results we must see the unique and irreplaceable persons who have contributed to those results: owners, shareholders, employees, clients, consumers, and so on. The logic of the purely numerical risks leading to dehumanisation.
Years ago, St. John Paul II taught:, "The Church acknowledges the legitimate role of profit as an indication that a business is functioning well. When a firm makes a profit, this means that productive factors have been properly employed and corresponding human needs have been duly satisfied. But profitability is not the only indicator of a firm's condition. It is possible for the financial accounts to be in order, and yet for the people — who make up the firm's most valuable asset — to be humiliated and their dignity offended. Besides being morally inadmissible, this will eventually have negative repercussions on the firm's economic efficiency. In fact, the purpose of a business firm is not simply to make a profit, but is to be found in its very existence as a community of persons who in various ways are endeavouring to satisfy their basic needs, and who form a particular group at the service of the whole of society. Profit is a regulator of the life of a business, but it is not the only one; other human and moral factors must also be considered which, in the long term, are at least equally important for the life of a business."[10]
Numbers and statistics help us to understand some aspects of reality, but they do not tell the whole story. Let us take a literary example. In the novel Hard Times, Dickens presents us with a dialogue in a school in an English mining town in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. The writer's purpose is to show the reader the lack of human sensitivity that societies suffer when they are governed exclusively by economic results or by what the British call matters of fact — cold, bare facts, stripped of any context that might humanise them and give them meaning. The village schoolmaster, a convinced positivist, addresses a group of young pupils: "Now, suppose that this schoolroom is the nation and that this nation has fifty million pounds. Is it a prosperous nation?" The question is directed at girl number twenty — all the children are numbered — who answers that she is not sure, since she does not know whose hands the money is in or whether any share of it belongs to her. The teacher rephrases the problem: "This schoolroom is an immense town, and in it there are a million of inhabitants, and only five-and-twenty are starved to death in the streets, in the course of a year. What is your remark on that proportion?" The girl responds that "it must be just as hard upon those who were starved, whether the others were a million, or a million million." This difficult dialogue between the man who relies only on statistics and the girl who keeps her attention fixed on each individual person ends with the following gem: the teacher asks what percentage five hundred people drowned represents out of one hundred thousand who embarked in a year to make a sea voyage. The girl answers: "Nothing [...] to the relations and friends of those who were lost."[11]
John Paul II asked whether, after the fall of communist regimes, the economic system to be adopted was capitalism. Once again he expresses how the economistic reduction is not an adequate response to the building of a society that respects human dignity. The holy Polish pope explains:
"The answer is obviously complex. If by 'capitalism' is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a 'business economy,' 'market economy' or simply 'free economy.' But if by 'capitalism' is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative."[12]
Justice and charity
What practical consequences does the centrality of the person have for a company, and therefore for the teachings that a business school with a Christian identity sets out to pass on to the business leaders and professionals who receive their formation there? In the first place, that in interpersonal relations — whether within the company or in its relations with society — justice must be respected in its classical sense of "giving to each what is his due." This means fair wages, quality products, truthful advertising, lawful financial dealings, reasonable prices, and a long list of other things that each of you will be able to add to.
St. Josemaría was a lawyer and possessed a juridical mindset and a great love of justice. "We do not love justice," he wrote in a homily dedicated to St. Joseph, "if we do not wish to see it fulfilled in the lives of others. In the same way, it is wrong to shut oneself up in comfortable religiosity, forgetting the needs of others. The man who wishes to be just in God's eyes also tries to establish the reign of justice among men. And not only for the good of God's name, but because to be a Christian means to work at fulfilling all the noble yearnings of men. Paraphrasing a well-known text of St John, we can say that the man who says he acts justly toward God, but does not do so with other men, is a liar: and there is no truth in him."[13]
Respecting the legitimate pluralism that exists when it comes to finding technical solutions to social emergencies, the founder of Opus Dei reminded everyone that a central part of the Gospel is the preferential love for the poor and the sick, who should enjoy the same rights as all other people. In this regard, the Church of the twentieth century formulated the principle of "the option or love of preference for the poor," which is a teaching of St. John Paul II, as "a special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity," and applies to "our social responsibilities" and to "logical decisions to be made concerning the ownership and use of goods."[14]
St. Josemaría declared in the middle of the last century: "In these times of confusion, it is hard to know what is right, or center, or left in political and social matters. But if by left one understands attaining well-being for the poor, so that all can share the right to live with a minimum of comfort, to work, to be well cared for if sick, to have sufficient rest and relaxation, to have children and to educate them, to be taken care of when old, then I am more on the left than anyone. Naturally, within the social doctrine of the Church, and without compromises with Marxism or atheistic materialism; nor with anti-Christian class struggle, because in these things we cannot compromise."[15]
St. Josemaría believed that there were inescapable demands of justice, and every suitable means must be sought to ensure they were respected. At the same time, in his social vision imbued with the love of Christ, he considered that justice alone was not enough.
"Be convinced that justice alone is never enough to solve the great problems of mankind. When justice alone is done, don't be surprised if people are hurt. The dignity of man, who is a son of God, requires much more. Charity must penetrate and accompany justice because it sweetens and deifies everything: 'God is love.' (…) There is a long road to travel from the demands of strict justice to the abundance of charity. And there are not many who persevere to the end. Some are content to go as far as the threshold: they leave aside justice and limit their actions to a bit of welfare work, which they define as charitable (…). Charity, which is like a generous overflowing of justice, demands first of all the fulfilment of one's duty. The way to start is to be just; the next step is to do what is most equitable…; but in order to love, great refinement is required, and much thoughtfulness, and respect, and kindliness in rich measure. In other words, it involves following the Apostle's advice: 'carry one another's burdens, and thus you will fulfil the law of Christ.' Then indeed we shall be living charity fully and carrying out the commandment of Jesus."[16]
Both Benedict XVI and Francis, when addressing economic activity, have referred to the attitudes of gift and gratuitousness, which are other ways of naming charity, since charity is love, and love is made concrete in self-giving, in giving oneself freely. Martin Schlag comments that these logics "express that the human person has no price, but rather dignity, and must therefore be placed at the centre of all economic activity as its foundation and its end. Our economic relationships can be of very different kinds: exploitative, domineering, unjust, hostile, etcetera. Or the opposite: enriching, positive, just, friendly, etcetera. Our way of participating in the market will be a consequence of the decision we make in our interior life: who do we want to be? What kind of person do I choose to be in my business activities? If we decide to respect others in their dignity, and even to love them as brothers, we will have applied the principle of 'gift' of which Benedict XVI spoke: we will have freely renounced any power of domination over others in order to serve them. This implies aspiring to a sustainable, long-term economy and rejecting the short-term greed that takes no account of human costs."[17]
A businessman on the path to the altars: Enrique Shaw
We know of many businesspeople who have striven to live, among other virtues, justice and charity. In this final section I should like to refer to the future Blessed Enrique Shaw, who will be raised to the altars in the coming months, once the date of his beatification is confirmed.[18]
From an aristocratic Argentine family, Enrique pursued holiness through the ordinary circumstances of his life: a large family, social relationships and, most relevant here, his work as a business leader. He lived very few years, from 1921 to 1962. With a deep spiritual life, he spread "the fragrance of Christ" in his environment, and devoted himself to forming other businesspeople in the Christian faith. For that reason he founded the Christian Association of Business Leaders in 1952. This is how Enrique Shaw expressed himself:
"We must remedy injustices. (…) We must consider it a duty of our state in life to be efficient; in order to distribute more, one must produce more. It is necessary to form Christian businesspeople and give them a style of life: to contribute to a better world, principally through the action of each Christian businessman in his own sphere. (…) This is a mission of religion and life: to try to sanctify ourselves through our profession and to sanctify the profession. A Christian sense of business leadership must be created, conceived in Christian terms, for which we must use the method of concrete application. The priest not only raises men to God but brings God to men in communion. (…) The businessman must embody Christ in the company. The way to do this is by applying his teachings, applying Christian doctrine, the message of Christ, to concrete problems of the business leader's role; getting people to participate. The most pressing problem for us and for other countries, especially the less developed ones, is the lack of capable people at the highest levels."[19]
Shaw sought to improve working conditions in the factory and to make his colleagues aware of the significance of their work in the production process. For this reason he considered the fundamental role of the business leader as he noted:
"We must work for the elevation of the human person: we are responsible for the human advancement of our staff, without thereby hindering in any way their legitimate initiative and their necessary responsibility. The business leader must regard each of his human collaborators as someone with potential, who must be helped to realise it and assisted in finding and drawing out the best that is within him. The 'climate' of the company must be such that it contributes to the advancement of the person and offers him, through his work and in his work, the best possible opportunity for his development; the business leader must allow as much freedom as possible so that each person may be master of his own actions and able to express his personality."[20]
One of the qualities most noted by those who knew him was his capacity for listening. In the daily life of the company, Shaw did not understand listening as a leadership technique, but as an attitude of the heart, deeply linked to the manner in which authority is exercised. Inspired by the biblical prayer of Solomon, he would often insist on the need to ask God for "a listening heart" as a condition for governing with wisdom, recalling that in the biblical tradition, to listen is also to understand, to discern, and to care for the people entrusted to our responsibility.
To listen truly, as Shaw lived it, transforms the internal culture of an organisation. It builds trust, strengthens a sense of belonging, and opens spaces in which every person can feel recognised and respected. In times of crisis, Enrique Shaw would put to himself an uncomfortable but necessary question: "Are we thinking more about people than about the company?"
Pope Leo XIV, recalling the principles of the Church's social teaching on the economy, emphasised some months ago that "this vision finds a shining example in the venerable servant of God Enrique Shaw, an entrepreneur who understood that industry was not just a productive mechanism or a means of accumulating capital, but a true community of people called to grow together. His leadership was distinguished by transparency, the ability to listen, and a commitment to ensuring that every worker could feel part of a shared project. In him, faith and business management came together harmoniously, demonstrating that the social doctrine is not an abstract theory or an unattainable utopia, but a possible path that transforms the lives of people and institutions by placing Christ at the centre of all human activity.
"Enrique promoted fair wages, encouraged training programmes, cared for the health of his workers and accompanied their families in their most concrete needs. He did not conceive of profitability as an absolute, but as an important aspect of sustaining a humane, just and supportive company. His writings and decisions clearly show the inspiration of Rerum Novarum, which asked businessmen 'not to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character' (no. 20)."[21]
The future Blessed had won the hearts of his employees, as countless testimonies demonstrate. In the final stage of his illness in 1962, when he needed blood transfusions to stay alive, approximately two hundred and sixty people — most of them workers from the Rigolleau glassworks where he worked — came forward to donate their blood. Enrique Shaw said: "I can tell you that now almost all the blood flowing through my veins is the blood of workers."[22]
Shaw never met St. Josemaría, although I think one can detect a deep spiritual affinity between them, as is quite natural in the case of two holy souls. Nevertheless, as the years passed, some members of his family received a vocation to Opus Dei. Among them, one son who became a priest and has exercised his pastoral work for decades in Kenya.
There is a very well-known exchange between Dr. Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri, whose cause of beatification has been opened, and St Josemaría Escrivá. Eduardo had moved from Granada to Pamplona to work at the University of Navarra, which was just starting out. When they met in Pamplona, he said to the founder of Opus Dei: "'Well, Father, you asked me to come to Pamplona to build a university, and there it is, built…' St. Josemaría replied: 'I did not ask you to build a university, but to make yourself a saint by building a university.'"[23]
I believe that is what St Josemaría would say today to those who work in business schools inspired by his spirit: to make ourselves saints in our work of teaching, of research, of radiating a Christian culture of enterprise, seeking excellence in order from there to serve all of humanity. The forthcoming beatification of Enrique Shaw is proof that it is possible to attain holiness in this fundamental dimension of human existence.
[1] Testimonial account by Francisco Ponz Piedrafita, October 1998, pg. 1, cited in Javier Pampliega, La historia del IESE. Primeros pasos y desarrollo inicial. Un estudio inédito (1957–1960), Barcelona, 2009, p. 18; cf. Francisco Ponz Piedrafita, IESE: 25 años, "Revista de Antiguos Alumnos" 15 (1984). Cited in A. Argandoña, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y la misión del IESE en el mundo de la empresa, Studia et Documenta, vol. 5, Rome 2011, pg. 132. Our translation.
[2] Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa, founded in Barcelona in 1958 by the University of Navarra. IESE has developed as a global initiative, with campuses in several countries, and is known for its humanistic approach and its adoption of the case method developed in collaboration with Harvard University. Further information at https://www.iese.edu/.
[3] Antonio Valero, Intervención en el acto con motivo de la beatificación de Mons. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Fundador y Primer Gran Canciller de la Universidad de Navarra, Barcelona, IESE, 9 April 1992 (typescript), pg. 1. Cited in A. Argandoña, op. cit., pg. 134. Our translation.
[4] Cf. Javier Echevarría, Para alcanzar los mayores beneficios, "Revista de Antiguos Alumnos" 108, December 2007, pg. 12. Our translation.
[5] Editor's note: the recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas by Leo XIV summarises these principles in chapter 2.
[6] St. Josemaría Escrivá, Letter no. 14.
[7] Conversations, no. 12.
[8] Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, no. 108. Italics in the original. In this regard, Pope Leo XIV wrote in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, no. 50: "For this reason, the human person always remains the 'way for the Church' and the heart of every authentic path of integral human development."
[9] Ibid, no. 338. Italics in the original.
[10] St. John Paul II, Centesimus annus, no. 35. Italics in the original.
[11] Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Chapter II. For more context about this work, see M. Fazio, El universo de Dickens. Una lección de humanidad, Rialp, Madrid 2015.
[12] St. John Paul II, Centesimus annus, no. 42.
[13] Christ is Passing By, no. 52.
[14] St. John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, no. 42. See also Ecclesia in America, no. 58. In Magnifica Humanitas, Leo XIV refers to this theme in nos. 43, 78 and 234. For example, he states: "The recent Magisterium has insisted that social justice begins with the least among us. Saint John Paul II spoke of a preferential option for the poor that must guide both personal and societal choices, while Pope Francis denounced a 'throwaway culture' that generates ever new forms of exclusion. From this perspective, social justice requires us to look at individuals and communities, starting with the most vulnerable: the poor, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, victims of violence and people living in urban or existential peripheries."
[15] Instruction, V-1935/14-IX-1950, note 146. Cited in J. Echevarría, Pastoral Letter, 1 April 2013.
[16] Friends of God, nos. 172-173.
[17] M. Schlag, Contra la idolatría del dinero, Rialp, Madrid 2018, pg. 209–210. Our translation. On the principle of gratuitousness and the logic of gift, see Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n. 36.
[18] Cf. Argentinian layman, 11 Spanish martyrs to be beatified (Vatican News).
[19] R. Estévez (2012). Enrique Shaw: un hombre de gobierno humano en la sociedad civil. In Camusso, Marcelo; López, Ignacio; Orfali Fabre, María Marta, eds. Doscientos años del humanismo cristiano en la Argentina: el compromiso con la república, la democracia y el bien común. Buenos Aires: Editorial de la Universidad Católica Argentina, pg. 621–651. Our translation.
[20] S. Critto de Eiras, Un empresario en plenitud: Enrique E. Shaw y su eficaz desempeño, LID Editorial empresarial, Buenos Aires 2017, pg. 85–86. Our translation.
[21] Leo XIV, Message to the 31st Argentine Industrial Conference, 8 September 2025.
[22] M. Stremi (2021). Un empresario camino a los altares. La vida de Enrique Shaw, un padre de familia y empresario siendo levadura en el orden temporal, Dios y el hombre 5 (1): e075. Our translation.
[23] E. López Escobar and P. Lozano, Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri, el médico amigo, Palabra, Madrid, 1994, pg. 216. Our translation.