Mount St. Mary’s University’s Alejandro Cañadas, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Bolte School of Business, attended the seventh annual Economy of Francesco Global Event in the fall of 2025, at the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Accompanied by his daughter, Maria Camila Cañadas, Cañadas spent November 28-30 at the event.
On the second day of the event, Cañadas led a workshop entitled A Way of Life: Rethinking Our Integral Growth and Wellbeing, attended by 60 in-person participants and online participants across the globe.
In his workshop, Cañadas introduced participants to what he calls the “Laudato Si’ Compass,” a framework intended to help integrate one’s mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and material wellbeing through the lens offered in the late Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si.”
“I developed my workshop as a journey that unfolded through three…principles for everyday life: ‘Sustainable and Responsible Consumption, Empathic Listening to Create an Economy of “Encuentro” (Communion), and Optimal Work: Focusing on What Really Matters’,” explained Cañadas. Participants experienced all three themes, reflecting and acting together to generate insights and proposals that can be applied in personal, community, and professional contexts.”
Maria Camila also presented at the event as a member of a round table, representing the student population alongside a professor, an entrepreneur, a religious leader, a CEO and a worker. The round table was called Reclaiming Work and Purpose: the Work Ahead, and viewed by 600 in-person and over 400,000 via livestream. Maria Camila attended the Mount as a dual-enrollment student while completing her senior year of high school, and now attends La Salle University.
The Economy of Francesco global event, named for St. Francis of Assisi, is an annual summit of economists and entrepreneurs from over 100 countries. Begun in 2019 by Pope Francis, participants seek to renew the business and financial practices across the globe to better align with Catholic ethics and the Catholic vision of the human person. This year’s theme was rest and its importance in the midst of work.