Pope: Skill, performance are not enough, empathy, heart needed at work

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis told young people preparing to seek employment not to accept just any kind of work, especially if it is “evil,” and not to compromise their beliefs for any reason, even for money or social status.

“Evil alienates us, extinguishes our dreams, makes us lonely and resigned,” he said in a written message to young people attending a workshop Dec. 17 organized by the Rome-based Christian Associations of Italian Workers (ACLI).

The heart knows how to notice what is evil or good and authentic, he wrote, and “we must choose,” asking for help and accompaniment from those “who know and care about us.”

People must enter into the world of work together, not each person for him- or herself, or else “we would rapidly become cogs in a machine, and those with power would be able to make anything of us,” he wrote.

The annual workshop, “LaborDì,” is dedicated to promoting dignified work, recognizing that “precarious and undignified work is a contributing factor to the precariousness of the dreams and future of our young people,” according to the ACLI website.

In his message, Pope Francis praised ACLI for showing how important it is for individuals and groups to come together and “transform the insights of the heart into social bonds. Together we can make dreams come true.”

“The heart seeks friendships, it thinks by not isolating itself, it warms itself by empathizing. The heart knows how to be flexible and generous. It knows how to renounce something while pursuing the ideal. It knows how to set goals, but cares how they are achieved,” he wrote, urging young people to always listen to and protect their hearts.

“As you enter the world of work,” he wrote, everything may seem to move too quickly, and “you may almost be overwhelmed by what is expected of you.”

People may be “breathing down your necks: so many demands, sometimes too many directions and recommendations,” he wrote, cautioning them to continue to guard their hearts so they can “remain at peace and free.”

“Do not bend to demands that humiliate you and cause you discomfort, to ways of proceeding and demands that sully your authenticity. In order to make your contribution, in fact, you do not have to accept everything, even evil. Do not conform to models you do not believe in, perhaps to gain social prestige or extra money,” the pope wrote.

“When work is organized without a heart, then the human dignity of those who work is endangered or they cannot find work or they adapt to unworthy work,” he said in his message.

“Know-how is not enough,” he wrote, and “performance is not everything. Machines will increasingly suffice for this.”

What matters is the intelligence, imagination, empathy and creativity of the human heart, he wrote. “We are ‘one of a kind,’ let us help each other remember that.”