Economics and law in the service of hope (and young people)

As Pope Francis himself has taught us, if hope is antithetical to foolish optimism, it is not the same as its opposite, i.e. gloomy pessimism (thus Anna Maria Fellegara in her conclusions).

Nor is it mere illusion (Michele Carpinelli), doomed to failure by disenchantment and, therefore, disappointment.

This vagueness is already present in the ancient Greek world: elpìs indicates, in fact, both the prediction of an evil and the prediction of a good.

It is no coincidence that in the myth of Pandora - and depending on the version - it sometimes lies in the vase at the bottom of evils, sometimes at the bottom of goods. A defining ambivalence, in the sense that hope is called upon to describe a way of being, an inner state, in relation to the future and the uncertain (Cristina Dell'Acqua in opening the work and commenting on Herodotus' fragment "hoping for the unhoped-for").

And it is precisely with a lack of hope, of non-expectation, that our young people, at least half of them, look to the future and the uncertain. A lack of hope that is disorienting because, as Tiziano Treu points out, it is linked to the loss of horizons and cardinal points, amid geopolitical imbalances, incessant and accelerated technological innovations, and the redesigning of roles and skills in the economy and society, even of the human.

Yet it is equally true that hope is not never or forever: it can be sown and cultivated. It is, as Ivana Pais points out, recalling one of Pope Francis' teachings, one of the main educational objectives of schools and universities. We must, in short, take care of hope and the instruments of hope, because only in this way can they be nurtured and grow (thus Marcello Cattani, President of Farmindustria).

Hope must also be nourished by the ambition to achieve certain goals, because that is how passion is generated (Marcella Caradonna). And learning to cultivate an activity is part of the journey (Michele Carpinelli).

A choral task, which transcends the distinctions between economics and law, private and public, and is therefore open to a pluralism of solutions and contributions.

Significant is the entry into the field of the Inland Revenue Agency, which, as Director Vincenzo Carbone emphasises, is ready to play its role, initiating a new attitude in the tax administration. A sign of hope, therefore, for a change in the institutions, including those of supervision and control.

On the other hand, it is through taxation that solidarity and the pursuit of the common good are made possible (we spoke about this on 30 April in these columns commenting on Pope Francis' legacy on tax issues).

The administration thus becomes, in the words of Inps President Gabriele Fava, generative, not merely productive of services: the direct reference is to generative welfare, designed to remedy the absence of listening and consideration (elements underlying the loss of trust in institutions) and centred on listening, personalisation, proximity. Two different ways of taking care of the person, and of young people, cultivating hope.

But the duty of educating young people in hope does not, as we said, touch only universities and public institutions, but also the private sector, and in particular the world of enterprise, which young people look to very much. Every business choice can, in fact, be a choice of hope: the attitude towards people, respect for the environment, 'giving back to society'. Hoping for the unhopeable, today, means believing that a company can really become part of the solution and not part of the problem (so Christophe Rabatel, CEO Carrefour). This is the contribution of companies: in directing towards innovation, the common good, responsibility, so that hopes become certainties (Marcello Cattani).

The greatest ground for cultivating hope, however, remains the collective and community ground. Particularly when wounds and trauma are at stake.

In this regard, an exemplary way to sow and cultivate hope for young people comes from restorative justice, which is, precisely, 'seeing the unhoped-for happen' (Claudia Mazzuccato), by setting in motion, for example, lasting and unthinkable dialogues between perpetrators and victims of political violence.

After all, on the horizon of our Constitution, steeped in hope, justice is not closure, but openness to the possibility that everything and everyone can change and improve.

The appeal to young people is, in short, not to be afraid: Pope John Paul II's well-known invitation to exhort them to look ahead is taken into consideration, because just hoping (even if not everything comes true) gives one the chance to go on an inner journey, to discover something precious, which can help one make the best choices and, therefore, of change and positive and good innovation.

Only then can we all cultivate hope for a better, fairer and more sustainable world.

  Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Law

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart