Past Events

New Policies and Life-styles in The Digital Age

The 25th anniversary of the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation was intended to look for the “New Things” which ask for innovative ways of applying Catholic Social Teaching (CST). From a wide range of diverse issues covered, a few basic guidelines arise, which have to do with education, governance of technology, social dialogue and a full understanding of the human person.

When: May 24-26, 2018
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Speech of Keynote Speaker: Robert A. Nalewajek, Founder and Executive Vice-President, CAPP-USA

Slides from Keynote Speaker: Robert A. Nalewajek, Founder and Executive Vice-President, CAPP-USA

Address by His All Holiness Bartholomew, Patriarch of Constantinople

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

Conference Summary

Constructive Alternatives in an Era of Global Turmoil 

“Promotors of Catholic social teaching in the economic world”: in his introductory words and prayer, Cardinal Domenico Calcagno opened the conference by inviting the audience of 300 professionals, business executives, academics, public administrators and religious leaders from 25 countries to fully assume their commitment as supporters of the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice (CAPP) Foundation, which was created in 1993 by St John Paul II. In his address during the Award ceremony of the third international prize for “Economy and Society” established by CAPP,1 Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, thanked the Foundation for issuing the CAPP 2017 Statement which “proposes a multidimensional and non-ideological approach to the social sciences, as well as to political and economic praxis, so that they may genuinely be at the service of the common good. Thank you for the replies to the teachings and exhortations of the Holy Father contained in the declaration. These replies demonstrate the vitality of the thought of Christian entrepreneurship”.

When: May 18-20, 2017
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Speech of Keynote Speaker: Sister Helen Alford OP, Vice Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), on Catholic Social Teaching in a Digital Age

Slides from Keynote Speaker: Delia Gallagher, CNN Vatican Correspondent

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

Conference Summary

The consultation took place in Madrid, this time jointly sponsored by the Foundation, the BBVA Group and the Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICAI-ICADE and focused on “Economic and Financial Ethics in the Digital Age”. The current digital revolution is changing life both socially and economically. Technological developments have positive and negative consequences that should be analysed in order to understand how individuals and organizations need to adapt. In the age of globalization where everything is interrelated, it is difficult for a crosscutting issue such as technology not to have ramifications in nearly all socio-economic areas. This conference focused on the influence that digital transformation is having and may have on the future of work and the financial sector.

When: January 25-27, 2017
Where: Casa América, Madrid

Program

Conclusions

Conference Summary

Business Initiative in the Fight Against Poverty

The 2016 CAPP annual international conference held at the Vatican addressed business in the fight against poverty, a theme previously developed in the Foundation’s 2015 Statement. Special attention was given to two subthemes: the European Refugee Emergency and the possibilities of new voluntary initiatives and alliances to serve the common good, on the lines traced by Pope Francis and following the consistent message of Catholic Social Thought. The conference was attended by 320 professionals and business executives, jointly with university professors, public administrators and religious leaders from 23 countries.

When: May 12-14, 2016
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Summary

“A Dialogue on Finance and the Common Good”:  A year after issuing its “Proposals on Finance and the Common Good”1 , the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation once again invited the Dublin Group on Finance and the Common Good, a group of bankers, banking supervisors, financial economists and specialists in financial ethics to a consultation meeting, this time hosted by the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta.

The crisis context is still more urgent and tragic in 2016 due to the European refugee influx which is not an isolated problem, but forms part of a broader set of social problems we face in a post-secular society. In this context, with long term views postponed by the urgency of immediate needs, Pope Francis has “an emotional connection with people around the world, whether Catholic or not”; he was described as “the most prominent figure addressing issues that have dominated global debates since the financial crisis began”2 . This gives added audience to Catholic Social Teaching and opens new possibilities of change, but the challenge remains: how are these calls to be implemented?

The Group was asked two sets of questions: Does financial reform entail real change? For whom? And how? and Internally-driven Ethical Reconstruction: is it happening? The third subject was an action-oriented idea: how to promote new Voluntary Solidarity Funds.

When: January 29-30, 2016
Where: Central Bank of Malta Headquarters, Malta

Program

Conclusions

“Rethinking Key Features of Economic and Social Life” 

This is the theme of the international conference held by the Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice Foundation in the New Synod Hall (Vatican City) and the Palazzo della Cancelleria (Rome). “This conference continues the work of the Foundation which endeavours to promote a series of clearly defined and wide-ranging topics. These indicate a tangible and feasible way forward concerning the reforms needed in the market economy, from the perspective of an economy that is at the service of human development”. The conference will be centred on three topics that relate to some key features of current social and economic changes: first – Can growth continue without compulsive consumption?; second  – The future of employment and the informal economy); and third – An urgent message for today’s world: can Catholic Social Teaching be extended even without the Christian faith?

When: May 25-27, 2015
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Press Release

CAPP-USA Contribution

“A Dialogue on Finance and the Common Good”: The participants gathered in Dublin – a city heavily transformed by the financial industry – for a Seminar on Finance and the Common Good, engaging in a dialogue between theological reflection and practice in order to foster social concern. Monsignor Martin clarified the focus of the Seminar as follows: how can we best place people, created in God’s image, at the centre of our vision of the economy and society. Poverty is not simply lack of material resources, but also the inability of people to realise their God-given potential.

When: October 24-25, 2014
Where: Dublin

Program

Conference Summary

Proposals

“The Good Society and the Future of Jobs: Can Solidarity and Fraternity be Part of Business Decisions?” 

Over the last three decades, an unprecedented integration of the global economy, together with an enormous expansion of monetary and financial instruments and markets, have produced a dramatic impact on income and wealth inequality, reshaping access to economic resources, endowments, and opportunities for people around the world. Overall, globalization has sustained the diffusion of economic development and a significant rise of average per capita income in many poor and medium-income countries. However, economic integration and growth contributed to generate new inequalities, tensions, and despair within and between countries, both rich and poor ones. Moreover, the outbreak of the economic and financial crisis that the World has gone through since 2007 has further increased interdependency, instability, and unevenness, including income inequality, in the global economy. The new economic and financial scenario calls for a new reflection based upon an analytical and morally inspired effort to understand its multiple determinants: institutional, economic, and ethical.

When: May 8-10, 2014
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Keynote Address by Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, Former Prime Minister of Malta

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

Conference Summary

“Debt Crisis, FInancial Reform and Common Good”: The group of around 50 participants included Church leaders and moral theologians, academic economists, central bank leaders, as well as professional bankers and investors. They were invited to discuss possible answers to the following question: as the Christian Churches, and specially the Catholic Church led by Pope Francis, are making urgent appeals for a change in the way the world economy works, redesigning governance in a way which corrects inequalities and injustice, is it possible to build a bridge between these statements and the actual frameworks where policy makers and finance professionals have to decide in the extremely complex present process of international financial reform? There is no simple answer to such question, but there appears to be a disposition to discuss the ways of a different financial and economic order of priorities.

When: September 27-28, 2013
Where: Vatican City

Program

Conference Summary

Conference Synthesis

Address by H.E. Angelo Cardinal Scola to the Fondazione Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice

“Rethinking Solidarity for Employment: The Challenges of the Twenty – First Century” 

Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. Speaking to members of the organization, Pope Francis called attention to the theme of the conference: “Rethinking solidarity for employment: the challenges of the 21st century.” In light of the current economic crisis and the rapid spread of unemployment, the Pope said “There is no worse form of material poverty… than that which makes it impossible to earn a living and which deprives someone of the dignity of work.” It is therefore not enough to help the poor, the Holy Father said, but we must reform the system at the global level in a way that is consistent with the fundamental human dignity. The root causes of the current crisis are not only economic and financial, but ethical and anthropological, where the “idols of power, of profit, of money,” are valued more than “the human person.” Pope Francis said “We must return to the centrality of man, to a more ethical view of business and human relations, without the fear of losing something.”

When: May 23-25, 2013
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Testimony of Dr. Andrea Gibellini

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

Conference Summary

“Family, Business: overcoming the crisis with new forms of solidarity. Twenty years after ‘Centesimus Annus’.”

At the heart of the Holy Father’s speech to those gathered was the family. The Pope noted that this year is the 20th Anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical Centesimus Annus and the 30th anniversary of his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio as well as 120 years after Pope Leo XIII’s historic work, Rerum Novarum. Pope Benedict XVI said “in these 120 years of development of the social doctrine of the Church in the world, great chanced have occurred”. But, he added, despite these advances the core of the internal social taeaching, which has always been to promote the human person and the family has not altered.

When: October 13-15, 2011
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Development, Progress and Common Good”

In his address, Pope Benedict XVI said, “I was glad to see that the central focus of your meeting is reflection on the relationship between ‘development, progress, common good’. Indeed, today more than ever, the human family may develop as a free society of free peoples if globalization is guided by solidarity and by the common good, and also by a relative social justice, which find a precious source in the message of Christ and in the Church. In reality, the crisis and difficulties which are now afflicting international relations, the States, society and the economy, are largely due to the lack of trust and inadequate supportive and creative inspiration, as well as a lack of dynamism oriented to the common good, which lead to authentic human relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity even ‘within’ economic activities. The common good is the goal that gives meaning to progress and to development, which would otherwise be limited solely to the production of material goods. These are necessary, but unless they are oriented to the common good, consumerism, waste, poverty and imbalances will ultimately prevail factors impeding progress and development.”

When: May 21-22, 2010
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Values and Rules for a New Model of Development”

Pope Benedict XVI affirmed, “Indeed, the financial and economic crisis which has hit the industrialized, the emerging and the developing countries, shows clearly that certain economic and financial paradigms which prevailed in recent years must be rethought. Therefore, at the international congress which took place yesterday your Foundation did well to address the topic of the search for, and identification of, the values and rules which the economic world should abide by in order to evolve a new model of development that is more attentive to the requirements of solidarity and more respectful of human dignity.

I am pleased to learn that you examined in particular the interdependence between institutions, society and the market, in accordance with my venerable Predecessor John Paul II’s Encyclical, Centesimus Annus.”

When: June 12-13, 2009
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Social Capital and Human Development”

Pope Benedict XVI addressed the conference saying, “This year, for your customary gathering, you have chosen the theme: ‘Social capital and human development’. You have paused to reflect on the need, felt by many, to promote a global development aimed at the integral promotion of man, also highlighting the contribution that volunteer associations can give, such as non-profit foundations and other types of community entities that have been founded with the goal of making the social fabric ever more solid. A harmonious development is possible if the economic and political choices take into account and put into practice those fundamental principles which make it accessible to all. I am referring, in particular, to the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. It is always necessary that the person, created in the image of God and willed by him to keep and administer the immense resources of creation, be at the centre of every economic programme, especially considering the vast and complex network of relations which characterize the post-modern epoch. Only a shared culture of responsible and active participation can enable each human being to feel not as a consumer or a passive bystander, but an active collaborator in the process of world development.”

When: May 30-31, 2008
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“The Increasing Role of Emerging Countries in the Global Scenario: Economic, Social and Cultural Consequences”

Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the conference saying, “In the course of this year’s meeting you reflected on the fundamental commitment that characterizes the Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice Foundation: to deepen the most current aspects of the Church’s social doctrine with reference to the most pressing problems and challenges of today’s world.

Secondly, you have come to present to the Pope the fruit of your generosity, so that he may use it to respond to the many requests for help that reach him from every part of the world. And I assure you, they are truly many.

You have, in fact, analyzed the changes taking place in the ’emerging’ countries under the economic and social profile, with the resulting cultural and religious repercussions. In particular, you have focused your attention on the Asian nations, marked by a strong dynamic of economic growth which does not, however, always bring real social development, and on Africa, where economic growth and social development unfortunately meet many obstacles and challenges.”

When: May 18-19, 2007
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Democracy, Institutions and Social Justice”

Pope Benedict XVI greeted the conference saying, “I am pleased to be able to meet you for the first time and I greet you all cordially. The Study Convention you have organized on Democracy, institutions and social justice is treating relevant current problems. People sometimes complain of the slowness with which an authentic democracy progresses, yet it continues, if used well, to be the most effective historical instrument for ensuring its own future in a way befitting to human beings. You have rightly identified two critical points on the way towards a more mature ordering of human coexistence.”

When: May 18-19, 2006
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Confronting Globalization, Global Governance and the Politics of Development”

The integration between economies and the resulting development thrust is an aspect that is of central importance in the economic history of the second half of the 1900s. Trade and foreign investment on the one hand, technological progress and influences between cultures on the other, have made integration between countries increasingly accentuated. If it is true that in many respects this has led to greater prosperity and the emergence of unprecedented opportunities for many countries, it is also true that in the globalization process there are winners and losers and that the gap between rich countries in the North and poor people in the South (especially Africa) tend to widen rather than shrink.

Already in the celebration of the World Day of Peace on January 1, 1998, the Holy Father John Paul II in the Message “From everyone’s justice comes peace for all” warned that “The challenge, in short, is to ensure globalization in solidarity, globalization without marginalization “. The problem that arises is therefore to understand how globalization and solidarity can serve one another to generate a global dynamic that involves economic growth but also balanced and equitable development, and how globalization can be oriented towards international solidarity purposes from international and supranational institutions.

When: April 30-May 1, 2004
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Conference Sessions

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

 “Today’s meeting is connected to the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Vatican Foundation, ‘Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice’, that provides a singular response to the invitation I offered in the Encyclical which has inspired this group, to promote and defend the knowledge and the practice of the Church’s social doctrine. I encourage you to continue in your undertaking, always keeping before you three great convictions:”

When: July, 2003
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Special greetings to those who have come from the United States of America. In the last several months your beloved country has been very much in my thoughts and in my prayers. I also welcome those who have come from Canada. I thank all of you for your efforts in joining the foundation in the pursuit of its noble purposes.

Your activity is even more timely, since you intend to pay special attention to the family and to ensuring its indispensable role in society. A serene and active family becomes a wonderful place for building peace. It is important to pray and work, so that the family may be an active agent in a constructive peace process, from within and outside.”

When: February, 2002
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“The last time you met was just last February, but you felt the need to meet again with the approach of the Holy Year 2000, for the Jubilee is a great ecclesial event in which your Foundation is called to collaborate, in the context of the Jubilee of the World of Work, to prepare for those who work in the financial sector. As I thank you for this willingness, I am pleased that, precisely in view of this event, you have opportunely decided next year to study the theme: ‘Ethics and Finance’. I am aware of your intention to organize an international congress on this subject on the eve of the Jubilee day. I appreciate such an important initiative and hope that it will bear abundant fruits.

Financial activity, in accordance with its own characteristics, must be directed to serving the common good of the human family.”

When: September, 1999
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Globalization and Solidarity”

“The theme of your meeting is globalization, which now concerns every aspect of economics and finance. The advantages that a well-regulated and balanced ‘globalized’ economy can bring to prosperity and to the development of culture, democracy, solidarity and peace are known to everyone. However, the harmonization of market demands with those of ethics and social justice must be constantly pursued. This ethical and juridical regulation of the market seems more difficult than ever, since the measures taken by individual States prove increasingly inadequate. It is therefore necessary to work for a culture of norms that not only concern the commercial aspects, but take responsibility for defending human rights all over the world. Indeed, to prevent the globalization of the economy from producing the harmful results of an uncontrolled expansion of private or group interests, it is necessary that the progressive globalization of the economy be increasingly met with a ‘global’ culture of solidarity attentive to the needs of the weakest.”

When: May, 1998
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

Solidarity in Papal Teaching

“It is from here that your reflection today, as it is aimed at transposing the rich teaching of the Church on solidarity into the concrete of the daily life of people and their human and professional commitments, takes its motive and purpose.

I am very pleased with your choice: it highlights the value of the evangelical witness that the generous application of the principles of the Church’s social doctrine has (cf. Ibid., 54). Solidarity does not consist in some isolated gesture or in ‘a feeling of vague compassion or superficial tenderness for the evils of many people’ (Sollicitudo rei Socialis, 38), but is a virtue and, as such, manifests’ the firm and persevering determination to commit oneself for the good of each and every one, because we are all truly responsible for all’ (Ivi).”

When: November, 1996
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“This year you have chosen the doctrine of the Encyclical Evangelium Vitae in relation to the social and pastoral orientations of the Centesimus Annus as the theme to which to reflect. In reality, God’s love for man, from which the dignity of the person and respect for the life of every human being flows, is an integral part of the Gospel that the Church must tirelessly announce and witness to the world. In fact, it has as its commitment “the care and responsibility for man, entrusted to her by Christ himself, for this man who, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, is the only creature on earth that God willed for himself and for whom God has his plan, that is, participation in eternal salvation” (Centesimus Annus, 53).”

When: November, 1995
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

As Cardinal Castillo Lara has already mentioned, the realization of social justice is one of the essential preconditions for building authentic and stable peace. Indeed, in the current context of “globalization of the economy”, to which the Encyclical Centesimus Annus also refers (cf. n. 58), it appears increasingly evident that there can be no peace, if with economic progress they are not combined also integral human development and social solidarity.”

When: September, 1994
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

Pope St. John Paul II’s inaugural address to the foundation after founding it.

The Foundation desired by you, which will be supported by a Committee of adherents, is a significant expression of your commitment as lay faithful. The Second Vatican Council, in that main document which is the Constitution Lumen Gentium, teaches that “it is proper to lay people to seek the Kingdom of God by treating temporal things and ordering them according to God … It is therefore for them particularly to illuminate and order all temporal things, to which they are closely linked, so that they are always made according to Christ, and grow and be of praise to the Creator and Redeemer “(n. 31). The Constitution adds, “Not only on priests and religious, but also on all lay people,” the glorious burden of working is weighed down so that the divine plan of salvation may reach every day more and more all men of all times and of all the earth”. And he exhorts: “Therefore let them be open to any way that, according to their forms and needs of the times, they too actively participate in the salvific work of the Church” (Lumen Gentium, 33).

When: June, 1993
Where: Rome and the Vatican

Address of the Holy Father to Participants

“Ethics in International Business and Finance”: An ‘Ethical Compass’ is necessary to ensure that the economy works in the direction indicated by Pope Francis, that of the common good, a primary principle in Catholic social encyclicals. The aim of discerning solidarity aspects involved in business decisions is a basic theme of CST. In business circles, the same basic idea inspires many ongoing inquiries on inclusive entrepreneurial initiative and an inclusive economy.  In the wake of current opportunities and concerns – from the ‘fourth technological revolution’ to growing inequalities, from the threat of jobless recoveries to the questioning of globalization – a fully innovative approach is required, not just to restore any ethical compass of the past, but to analyse our concepts of economic rationality and define specific ethical criteria which apply to present-day dilemmas. This is the first question submitted to the consultation.

The other complementary question is: who in fact is responsible? Who are the depositors of an Ethical Compass? Business leaders? Public opinion? Consumers? Is it basically a field for individual conviction, or one of general education and mindsets?

When: March 15-17, 2018
Where: Fordham University, Manhattan, New York City

Program

Keynote Address by Most Rev. Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the United Nations

Summary

The conference “Pope Francis’ Call for Escaping Poverty: Practical Examples and New Proposals” has been held in New York City on September 23rd, thanks to the efforts of CAPP USA and in cooperation with Fordham University, the latter also hosting the event in its premises.

When: September 23, 2016
Where: Fordham University, Manhattan, New York City

Program

Address of H.E. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of Vatican State

Final Report

The CAPP-Fordham Conference, Poverty and Development: a Catholic Perspective, brought together international authorities and professionals who highlighted poverty and development issues raised by His Holiness, Pope Francis, to address their implications and suggest specific responses and remedies.

When: September 26-27, 2014
Where: Fordham University, Manhattan, New York City

Program

Address of H.E. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of Vatican State

“Issues of Immediate Relief, Lasting Development and the Need for Solidarity”: H.E. Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi Paper

The “Obligation to Intervene”: General Roméo Dollaire Paper

Poverty and Development – Perspectives from Haiti: H.E. Cardinal Chibly Langlois Paper

The Suffering and Hope of a Terrorized Community: Jean-Clément Jeanbart Paper

Migration, Economic Development and Poverty: Fr. Richard Ryscavage, S.J. Paper

What Can Economics Add to a Catholic Perspective on Poverty and Development: Dr. Henry Schwalbenberg Paper

Poverty and Development: a Catholic Perspective: Robert A. Nalewajek Paper

Final Report