Vatican conference on ‘New Policies and Life-Styles in the Digital Age’’

Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation organises a meeting to mark its 25th anniversary. “The challenge of generating and sustaining growth with equity is not just a challenge for the moralist. It is the task of economists and policy makers to develop and test new models of economic growth that will generate equity,” said Bishop Diarmuid Martin, archbishop of Dublin.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation will mark its 25th anniversary with a conference on ‘New Policies and Life-Styles in the Digital Age’ on 24-26 May 2018 at the Palazzo Cancelleria and in the Vatican.

The event will focus on three themes, namely ‘The family facing job uncertainties and the digital cultural revolution’, ‘Towards a sustainable food chain: responsibility against the ‘throwaway culture’, and ‘Human Work, Inclusive Employment’.

The conference will end in the Vatican with an address by His All Holiness Bartholomew, Patriarch of Constantinople, who will speak on ‘A Common Christian Agenda for the Common Good’, which will be followed by a private audience with Pope Francis.

In presenting the initiative today, Mgr Diarmuid Martin, archbishop of Dublin, noted that “The challenge of generating and sustaining growth with equity is not just a challenge for the moralist. It is the task of economists and policy makers to develop and test new models of economic growth that will generate equity.”

He went on to say that “Another striking characteristic of our current model is the level of corruption that can permeate economic activity worldwide. The fight against corruption requires moral condemnation and legal measures to repress those responsible. Economists could also propose models of transparency that would reduce the opportunities for corruption. The poor pay the cost of corruption.”

For his part, Domingo Sugranyes Bickel, who chairs the Foundation’s Board of Directors, said that "like at the time of Rerum Novarum, we will try to identify 'elements of novelty' in order to rethink the socio-economic priorities we face today."

The list of speakers includes members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican Foundation Gravissimum Educationis, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the European Trade Union Confederation, and a number of economists, academics and business leaders.

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