Enrique Ernesto Shaw, declared “Venerable” by Pope Francis in 2021, developed teachings on business and entrepreneurship that are becoming more known and admired among Catholic business leaders. 

The Argentine, who was born in Paris, was only 41 when he died in 1962. 

Shaw — a devout Catholic and a father of nine children, one of whom became a priest — developed a passion for implementing Catholic social teaching within the business realm. 

“Enrique Shaw was rich, yet saintly. A person can have money. God gives it to him so he can administer it well, and this man administered it well,” Pope Francis remarked to Mexican TV station Televisa in 2015. 

“Enrique Shaw’s deep faith was exemplified by his consistent application of Christ’s teachings,” Jon Bachura, adviser to Legasus Group, a business consulting and services company based in Wichita, Kansas, told the Register. 

“From his example, we learn to apply the beatitudes to life and work through a deliberate exercise of ‘cross-walking’ them to particular roles we play and actions we take,” Bachura said.

As Pope Francis observed in 2024 to the faithful of Rosario, Argentina, “‘The entrepreneur is a fundamental figure in any good economy: there is no good economy without a good entrepreneur.’ … There is therefore a great task ahead in the entrepreneurial sector, not only by preventing complicity in business with criminal organizations, but also by engaging socially. There are great examples of this in the life of Argentine entrepreneurship, including that of Enrique Shaw.”

Earlier this year, Shaw’s path to sainthood took a major step when an alleged miracle attributed to his intercession passed medical review, moving to evaluation at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Business-Minded Family

Shaw’s talent for entrepreneurship stemmed from his parents: His father, Alejandro, owned a bank; Sara, his mother, came from a family of entrepreneurs. 

Shaw continued this tradition after a stint in the Argentine navy, while blending business and faith under the mentorship of Msgr. (later Cardinal) Joseph Cardijn. Shaw worked with the Belgian priest and founder of Young Christian Workers in ushering humanitarian aid to a devastated post-war Europe. 

Supporting Entrepreneurs

In 1952, Shaw founded the Argentine Christian Association of Entrepreneurs (ACDE). Today, ACDE recognizes Shaw’s impact with the annual Enrique Shaw Award, which highlights firms that support their local communities.

Shaw also backed UNIAPAC, the International Christian Union of Business Executives. Diagnosed with skin cancer at age 36, Shaw kept busy, serving as national president of Men of Argentine Catholic Action. He also was treasurer on the first board of directors for the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. 

Holiness Amid Ill Health

Before his death, Shaw visited Lourdes. When he received a blood transfusion in 1962, the year of his death, hospital staff were surprised to see so many of Shaw’s fellow workers lining up at the hospital, ready to donate their blood. 

“He desired to live a fully integrated life and showed us practical wisdom on so many occasions,” Bachura said.

In 1955, Shaw was a victim of anti-Catholic persecution by the regime of Juan Perón, the same year the army colonel would be overthrown, until his return in 1973. In 2015, Navarro Floria, postulator of Shaw’s cause for beatification, told CNA that, while under arrest, Shaw gave mattresses and food his family brought him to other inmates. 

To commemorate Shaw’s “life of integrity, compassion and service,” the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., houses the world’s only stained-glass window of Enrique Shaw, in the school’s St. Michael the Archangel Chapel, a Busch School of Business press release stated. Shaw is depicted with a halo on the window, which CUA received with permission, “symbolizing the profound impact [Enrique Shaw’s] example has on future business leaders.” 

Cristofer Pereyra of the Tepeyac Leadership Initiative also underscored Shaw’s witness.

“He championed workers’ rights, implemented social programs for employees, and cared for their well-being both inside and outside the workplace,” he told the Register. “In doing so, Shaw exemplified the idea that the workplace should be a place where profits, faith and human dignity can coexist.”