Vatican Conference to explore Church’s role in promoting justice

Vatican City, Mar 15, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Delegates began gathering at the Vatican today for a meeting which will explore the need for justice worldwide and examine the legacy of the groundbreaking encyclical Gaudium et Spes, written in 1965.

The three-day meeting promoted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace began this afternoon on the theme "A Call to Justice. The Legacy of  'Gaudium et Spes' 40 Years Later." Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the council, is scheduled to make welcome remarks and Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, will give the opening address.
 
Five prestigious Church figures will address five different dimensions of "Gaudium et Spes."

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, archbishop of Sao Paolo, Brazil, will address the document’s theological and ecclesial foundations; Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community, will give a historical perspective; Rubens Ricupero, former director general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, will speak on "The Call to Justice in the Political Order"; Guy Pognon of Benin will address "A Call to Justice in the Economic Order", and Helen Alvare, a docent at the Catholic University of America, will speak about the role of the family in the social order.
 
The conference will examine the scope of the social Magisterium of the second Vatican Council through reflections on the philosophical and theological foundations of Catholic social tradition, the mission of the Church in the social sphere, and the Church’s response to various questions of an economic, political and social nature.

Analysis of issues like globalization, poverty, consumerism, international peace, immigration, and terrorism will be accompanied by models of effective action against poverty, social sin, and various forms of suffering.