After warning us to be careful about the economy’spitfalls such as its ‘approach of exclusion’ and “attitude of worshipping the money-idol,’ Evangelii Gaudium goes deeper into the root cause of these dangers. It is none other than its ‘rejection of ethics and God.’ Ethics is a philosophical discipline that ‘deals with values related to human conduct, giving principles regarding the rightness and wrongness of human actions, and deciding goodness or badness of motives and ends.’ Such a study is supposed to have influence on all walks of life. However the present-day economy keeps ethics out of bounds because it sees it as “counterproductive” to its profit motives. The principles of Ethics demand “a more equal form of economic progress, the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.” With this in mind, Pope Francis appeals to the governments to work for an ethical redistribution of wealth, so as to help the poor and marginalized of the world to rise out of oppressive and degrading poverty. He puts forward the words of an ancient sage, St John Chrysostom, to the consideration of the financial experts and political leaders: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs” (# 57). This does not mean the Pope is antagonistic to the rich, while taking the side of the poor only. Hence he says: “The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and to the return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favours human beings” (# 58). In nutshell, EG’s diagnosis says that (1) Economy bereft of ethical consideration is the root cause of the many problems that world is facing today. (2) Hence, he calls for an integrated approach between ethics and religion on the one hand and economics and politics on the other. (3) Thereby he would like people to relativize the money and power with a view to bringing about balance and a more humane social order. (4) This does not meanthat the rich must be condemned, but rather they must be encouraged to help the poor realize their human dignity. (5) The economic experts and political leaders, therefore, must work in consonance with ethical and spiritual principles. It is strange but true that nearly a century ago Gandhi upheld the same contentions of EG. (1) Already in the year 1925 Gandhi denounced an unethical trade and commerce. “Commerce without morality” was one of the ‘Seven Sins of society’ (YI 350). Specifically with reference to the relation of ethics and economics Gandhi said: “I must confess that I do not draw a sharp or any distinction between economics and ethics. Economics that hurts the moral well-being of an individual or a nation is immoral and, therefore sinful” (VT 221). (2) Gandhi always upheld an integrated approach to be adopted by all departments of life: “the whole gamut of man’s activities today constitutes an indivisible whole. You cannot divide social, economic, political and purely religious work into watertight compartments. I do not know any religion apart from human activity” (VT p.221). (3) Further Gandhi declared: “True economics never militates against the highest ethical standard, just as all true ethics to be worth its name must at the same time be also good economics. An economics that inculcates Mammon worship, and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak, is a false and dismal science. It spells death. True economics on the other hand stands for social justice, it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest, and is indispensable for decent life (Bose 39-40). (4) Moreover, just like the Pope’s attitude, Gandhi’s was never against the rich but only against the abuse of their riches. (5) Finally, just as the Pope, Gandhi also expects political leaders and experts of economics to act in line with spiritual principles. In fact, his theory of trusteeship was precisely an illustration of the coordination of ethics economics and religion. Would these two great prophetic voices be listened to!