Gozo Bishop Mario Grech underlined the importance of ethics and warned of the dangers of relativism when he addressed the general council of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin at the union's headquarters, in Floriana, yesterday.

Mgr Grech said the changes brought about by the reorganisation of the economic system and the profound changes in the methods of production did not always result in favourable conditions for workers.

All this brought with it an ethical challenge. One should not just consider financial gain, he said, though unfortunately, there were those who in the name of democracy and pluralism insisted on separating economic activity and ethics.

Mgr Grech insisted that separating the two could only result in a law of the jungle approach where only the fittest would survive.

Ethical relativism, he said, was the real cancer of society and political activity.

The last century had proven right those who insisted on the falsity of the thesis of relativism, leading to the corruption of the concept of the human person, of the common good and of the state.

In fact, the totalitarian systems experienced in the past century had brought about economic disasters and weakened the consciences of many - so much so that they could not even stand up against those who were causing them harm.

Commitment was required to provide workers with a real service - as Pope John Paul II had once told the delegates of the Polish movement Solidarity - to improve society's morals not just when it came to relations between workers and employers but also in other aspects such attention to the weak.

When one spoke of a commitment against ethical decadence one was dealing with various aspects - from abortion to euthanasia, the rights of the human embryo to family protection, educational freedom to the social protection of minors, the right to religious freedom, to commitment to an economy that would be of service to man and the common good.

These, Mgr Grech said, are all themes at the heart of morality. This ethical truth should never be an object of business in the name of usefulness or utility.

He said that respect for ethical and moral principles in the political field helped individuals and enterprises come out of their egoistic selves and open themselves to the real needs of a community made up of individuals.

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