Home · Faith · Nov 15 archive
Pope Leo XIV Honors Argentine Businessman Enrique Shaw
· Confirmed
In Short: Pope Leo XIV honored Argentine businessman Enrique Shaw during his visit to Argentina, highlighting Shaw's life as a model of holiness in the business world.
Pope Leo XIV in popemobile at inauguration.
During his visit to Argentina, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the late Argentine businessman Enrique Shaw, a man whose life exemplifies the intersection of faith and economic responsibility, according to Vaticannews.
Zenit reported that Pope Leo authorized the recognition of a miracle attributed to Shaw, clearing the final canonical obstacle for his beatification. This move underscores Shaw’s enduring reputation for holiness, sustained by those who knew him and later generations who found in his life a compelling synthesis of faith, work, and family responsibility.
Ewtnnews and EWTN Vatican both noted that Shaw was declared venerable by Pope Francis in 2021, and that Pope Leo XIV described Shaw as a man who understood industry not as an impersonal system but as a community of persons called to grow together.
According to Ewtnnews, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that Shaw’s writings and decisions were shaped by Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which is considered the foundational act of modern Catholic social teaching. The pope noted that Shaw did not conceive profitability as an absolute but as an important aspect to sustain a human, just, and solidarity-based company.
EWTN Vatican and OSV News both highlighted Pope Leo’s message to the 31st Industrial Conference of Argentina, where he honored Shaw and said his life demonstrated that Catholic social teaching is not an abstract theory but a practicable path capable of transforming people and institutions.
Zenit and OSV News both noted that Shaw’s life demonstrated that economic efficiency and fidelity to the Gospel are not mutually exclusive. Shaw’s granddaughter, María Elena Critto, emphasized the striking connection between Pope Leo’s choice of name and the body of Church teaching that transformed Shaw’s life.
EWTN Vatican and Ewtnnews both quoted Pope Leo XIV as saying that Shaw promoted unity and growth together, and that the factory must be humanized. To judge a worker, one must love him.
Despite the different publications reporting on the same event, they all agreed that Pope Leo XIV honored Enrique Shaw as a model of holiness in the business world, emphasizing the importance of integrating faith and economic responsibility.
Background
In April, Pope Leo XIV announced that Bishop James Golka of Colorado Springs would replace retiring Archbishop Samuel Aquila in Denver starting in March.
What's confirmed
- The pope noted that Shaw “did not conceive profitability as an absolute but as an important aspect to sustain a human, just, and solidarity-based company.” Recalling that Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum was the “foundational act” of modern Catholic social teaching, he said it is evident that Shaw’s writings and decisions were shaped by that text.
- He died at age 41 and was declared venerable by Pope Francis in 2021.
- For this reason, he proposed Shaw as a “model for our time” for all who work in the economic and labor sectors, insisting that holiness “must flourish precisely where decisions are made that affect the lives of thousands of families.” “The world urgently needs entrepreneurs and leaders who, out of love for God and neighbor, work for an economy at the service of the common good,” he concluded.
- “Later he faced illness, but he never stopped working or encouraging those around him. He offered his suffering to God as an act of love and, even amid pain, remained close to his workers,” the pope said.
What's still developing
- Speaking to journalists aboard the papal flight to Latin America, Pope Leo told journalists travelling with him on this Apostolic Journey that though his visit to the continent is to confirm the faith of the Christians, his visit to Argentina joyfully coincides with his desire to pay tribute to his predecessor, Pope Francis.
- We spoke to the current Buenos Aires Cathedral Administrator, Fr.
- This papal visit is heartfelt and long-awaited by Argentinians here.
- As Pope Leo visits the Church on this continent, it is territory that he knows well: A Church that is both vibrant and has its own challenges.
- As is clear from the last-minute cleaning, painting, and varnishing that we have seen around the City of Buenos Aires, Argentinians are ready for Pope Leo.
- When that moment arrives, it will mark not just the recognition of a miracle, but the elevation of a vision (ZENIT News / Buenos Aires, 12.21.2025).- With a discreet but decisive gesture, Pope Leo XIV has opened the door to a new beatification that speaks as much to modern economic life as it does to traditional models of sanctity.
- “He embodied Catholic social teaching in the business world,” she said, demonstrating that an employer can look beyond the economic dimension of a company and recognize “the dimension of human dignity.” Born in Paris to Argentine parents in 1921, Shaw entered Argentina’s naval academy as a teenager and became one of its youngest commissioned officers.
- He also became active in Argentine Catholic Action and helped found the Christian Association of Business Executives, known by its Spanish acronym ACDE, in 1952.