Two Italian bishops call for ethics reflection after Parmalat crisis

Published: 2004-01-23

ROME (CNS) -- In the wake of the Parmalat crisis, the president of the Italian bishops' conference and the bishop of Parma called for a deeper reflection on ethics and regulation. An Italian court declared the food, drinks and dairy company, Parmalat, insolvent in December after investigators discovered at least 10 billion euros (US$12.7 billion) were missing from the company's accounts. Eleven people -- including the company's founder, Callisto Tanzi -- have been arrested. "The Parmalat case ... has revealed an unexpected vulnerability of (the Italian) business and financial system," said Cardinal Camillo Ruini, head of the Italian bishops' conference, in his opening address Jan. 19 to the standing council of the bishops' conference in Rome. "Bitter surprises of this kind compel us to rediscover the value of ethics," Cardinal Ruini said. Bishop Silvio Cesare Bonicelli of Parma called for greater reflection on what sort of rules must be in place to "keep businesses in Italy and abroad that are left to play in the free market from creating a crisis like the one at Parmalat."

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