Pope Leo XIV highlighted this Monday, during his visit to the Argentine Catholic University (UCA), the figure of businessman Enrique Shaw, whose beatification he promoted after recognizing a miracle attributed to his intercession. The recognition by the Pontiff also allows for the remembrance of an episode in Argentine history: his imprisonment in 1955 during the government of Juan Domingo Perón, amid the Peronist persecution of the Catholic Church.
During a meeting with businessmen, union leaders, and representatives from the world of work, Leo XIV praised Shaw's career, who contributed to founding the UCA and was one of the promoters of the Christian Association of Business Leaders (ACDE). The Pope emphasized that the businessman understood that industry "was not just a productive cog or a means of capital accumulation, but a true community of people called to grow together", and he revived Shaw's conception of work as an activity linked to human dignity and social responsibility.
Henry Shaw.
However, the same businessman who is now on the path to sainthood was imprisoned on May 7, 1955, by Perón's government, when authorities detained various leaders of Catholic Action Argentina under the accusation of participating in a supposed conspiracy to overthrow the then-president. Shaw remained approximately ten days deprived of his freedom, along with other Catholic leaders. According to biographical reconstructions of his life, the detainees were crammed into police facilities and subjected to extensive interrogations.
The detention occurred during the confrontation that Perón had initiated against the Catholic Church at the end of 1954, when his administration promoted a series of measures that restricted the presence of religious institutions in public life. Among them were the elimination of the non-working status of certain Catholic holidays, the suppression of religious education in public schools, and restrictions on religious manifestations in public spaces.
The Peronist government's offensive even reached Christmas celebrations. The Municipality of Buenos Aires, then under the political control of the national government, prohibited merchants from displaying nativity scenes and other religious representations for Christmas, in a decision that was part of the restrictions imposed against public expressions of Catholicism. The conflict was also accompanied by the approval of the divorce law and other reforms rejected by ecclesiastical authorities.
Pope Leo XIV called for more businessmen like Enrique Shaw at the UCA.
For his part, Shaw continued to develop his business and religious activities. As a director of Cristalerías Rigolleau, he promoted initiatives aimed at improving working conditions and defended the continuity of jobs. His commitment was reflected when, during his illness, more than 200 workers voluntarily offered to donate blood. The businessman passed away in Buenos Aires on August 27, 1962, at the age of 41.
On December 18, 2025, Leo XIV authorized the decree that recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Enrique Shaw, corresponding to the recovery of a child who had suffered a severe cranial trauma after being kicked by a horse. The decision enabled his upcoming beatification and made the Argentine businessman a central figure in the Pope's message about the world of work, more than seven decades after being imprisoned by the Peronist government.
