The Vatican confirmed Pope Leo XIV approved a miracle attributed to Venerable Enrique Ernesto Shaw, paving the way for his beatification. Enrique Ernesto Shaw was a wealthy Argentine businessman, husband, and father of nine who died in 1962 at age 41. Shaw's life is being recognized for demonstrating a rare coherence between his Catholic faith and his actions, even as a wealthy layman. The approval addresses the long-standing challenge posed by Jesus's teaching regarding the difficulty for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
3 months ago
Pope Leo XIV approved a miracle attributed to Venerable Enrique Ernesto Shaw on December 18, 2025, advancing the Argentine layman's cause for beatification.1
Shaw, a wealthy Catholic businessman, husband, and father of nine who died in 1962 at age 41, exemplifies holiness in secular life.1
Born in 1921 in Paris to an Argentine family, Shaw grew up privileged but committed to faith after his mother's death.1
He became Argentina's youngest naval school graduate at 14, retiring as a lieutenant at 24, and later studied business influenced by Msgr. Reynold Hillenbrand.1
Shaw led Rigolleau Glassworks, implementing pensions, healthcare, and family wages for 3,400 workers amid 1950s social conflicts.1
He founded Argentina's Christian Association of Business Executives, Catholic Action's men's branch, and local Caritas, while facing arrest during anti-church persecution.1
In 2015, a 5-year-old boy near Buenos Aires suffered a severe head injury from a horse kick, with doctors doubting surgery's viability.1
After prayers to Shaw, the boy fully recovered and now lives normally as a teenager, deemed inexplicable by medical review.1
Pope Leo XIV, in a message to Argentina's Industrial Conference, stated Shaw proves business efficiency and Gospel fidelity can coexist.1
His life counters Gospel warnings on wealth, affirming laity's vocation in economic spheres with charity and justice.1
Can lay business leaders exemplify sanctity per Catholic teaching?
Catholic teaching unequivocally affirms that lay business leaders can exemplify sanctity by integrating faith into their professional lives, viewing business as a divine vocation that fosters holiness through service, ethical principles, and the common good. Documents from Vatican II and recent papal addresses, alongside reflections from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, emphasize labor and enterprise as paths to sanctification, associating them with Christ's redemptive work and calling leaders to servant attitudes that elevate human dignity. This perspective counters any notion that sanctity is reserved for clergy or religious, positioning business as a "noble vocation" where leaders become "missionaries of the social dimension of the Gospel."
At the heart of this teaching is the inherent dignity of human work, which transcends mere economic activity to become a participation in God's creative and redemptive plan. Gaudium et Spes declares that "through labor offered to God man is associated with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ," who dignified labor by working with His own hands in Nazareth. This elevates all work—independent or hired, including business leadership—to a sphere where one "stamps the things of nature with his seal," supports family and society, and exercises charity. Remuneration must enable "material, social, cultural, and spiritual life," while work conditions respect the person, especially families and mothers, granting rest and opportunities for personal development.
This framework extends to business leaders, who are called to organize economic life in ways that honor human dignity rather than reducing workers to "slaves to their own work." Pope Francis echoes this in addressing business executives, stating that "the commercial and managerial activities of a company can become places of sanctification," through building fraternal relationships, co-responsibility, and harmony between work and family. He urges protection for working women in their dual rights to work and motherhood, and creative job creation to restore dignity to the unemployed, particularly youth. Such actions transform business into a means of mercy and Gospel service, far beyond mere fundraising.
The Vocation of the Business Leader explicitly frames business as a calling for lay Christians to collaborate in creation, motivated by more than financial success but by faith, hope, and love. Leaders at all levels—from CEOs to informal influencers—shape economic life across diverse institutions (multinationals, family businesses, cooperatives), advancing "ethical social principles" like subsidiarity, solidarity with the vulnerable, and sustainable wealth creation. This counters a "divided life" separating faith from business, promoting instead "servant leadership" akin to Christ washing the feet of His disciples.
Business, when functioning for the common good, contributes to society's material and spiritual well-being, despite challenges like inequality and ecological harm. Leaders respond by "seeing" needs, "judging" via Gospel-illuminated principles, and "acting" with practical wisdom. Pope John Paul II reinforced this, insisting that progress without ethical dimensions fails, and business leaders must steward resources for justice, peace, and solidarity as "faithful and wise stewards." Similarly, Pope Francis calls entrepreneurs to navigate market pressures with a "well-formed Christian conscience," fostering new corporate cultures amid conflicts over justice, wages, and environment.
Sanctity emerges when leaders prioritize persons over profit, as in Gaudium et Spes' vision of activity ordered toward integral human development: "A man is more precious for what he is than for what he has." Business perfects creation, serves brethren, and elevates culture toward truth, goodness, and beauty, drawing the spirit to God. Christians in business uncover this activity's "eminent place in the integral vocation of man."
Practical witness includes defending creation (Laudato Si' referenced), openness to poverty, and subsidiarity for job creation. Pope Francis notes: "Business is an asset of common interest... [needing] ethics which place the person and the community at the centre." Such leaders, invoking St. Joseph the Worker, bear fruit as the Gospel lives in their actions.
While the provided sources do not detail canonized lay business saints, they robustly support the principle through doctrinal and magisterial authority, with more recent teachings (e.g., Pope Francis, 2015-2019; Dicastery, 2018) building on Vatican II (1965) for contemporary application.
In summary, lay business leaders exemplify sanctity by embracing their vocation as a sanctifying mission: dignifying work, serving the common good, and leading as servants. This aligns human enterprise with divine will, fostering holiness amid economic challenges. Catholic teaching invites them to this path confidently, as collaborators in God's plan.