Integrity and a social sense

37. Lastly, it is absolutely essential to motivate all the parties acting in society and in the economy to favour development policies whose priority objective is to give all people an equal chance to live with dignity, making all the necessary effort and sacrifices to achieve this. However, this is impossible if those who occupy posts of responsibility fail to give unambiguous signs of their integrity and to demonstrate their sense of the common good. The flight of capital, wasting or misappropriating resources for the benefit of a minority based on kinship, social and ethnic ties or political affiliations are widespread and well-known to the public. Such errant behaviour is frequently denounced. But this does not really encourage those responsible to refrain from these activities, which are damaging to those living in poverty particularly when done on a large scale(⁵⁶).

It is often corruption(⁵⁷) that hampers the reforms needed to pursue the common good and ensure justice, which go hand in hand. Corruption has many causes. Yet, it is always a very serious abuse of the trust placed by society, in those appointed to represent that society, and who exploit this social authority for personal gain. Corruption is one of the constituent elements of many "structures of sin", and the cost to the planet is far superior to the sum total of all the funds embezzled.