It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Vatican today as members of the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange. I wish to congratulate you, for in being designated to this position you represent America’s most important business corporations and federal government agencies. You have a wealth of experience in both the private and public sectors of your nation’s life, and your mutual exchange provides a basis for more effective co-operation between business and the agencies of government.

I am happy that you have come to Rome in the course of this year’s International Seminar, which is enabling you to meet business executives throughout Europe. It is my hope that your talks will be fruitful and provide you with a better under standing of the economic and social issues of the day.

I would encourage you always to look beyond the immediate concerns of your own country, and to make the welfare of the people of all nations a primary concern. The true dignity of every human person should be the basic ethical principle governing economic activity, since the economy and production are for the good of the human person and not vice versa.

May God grant you wisdom in your decisions, prudence in your words and actions, and concern for the dignity and equality of every individual, so that you will always render true service to humanity.

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