VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 041
DATE 26-02-2015

Summary:
- The Foundation Centesimus Annus - Pro Pontifice presents the winners of the
"Economy and Society" award

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 The Foundation Centesimus Annus - Pro Pontifice presents the winners of the
"Economy and Society" award
 Vatican City, 26 February 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press
Office the Foundation Centesimus Annus presented its activity during the past
two years, its programmes and the names of the winners of the second edition
of its the biennial international award, "Economy and Society". The speakers
in the conference were Domingo Sugranyes Bickel, president of the Foundation,
Michael Konrad, secretary of the jury, Msgr. Giuseppe Antonio Scotti, a jury
member and Alberto Quadrio Curzio, president of the scientific committee of
the foundation and deputy president of the Italian Lincean Academy.
 The Foundation Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice, the president explained, was
created by St. John Paul II in 1993, is managed by a council made up of nine
laypeople and reports to the president of the APSA (Administration of the
Patrimony of the Apostolic See), currently Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, under
the supervision of the Secretariat of State. Its main objective is to promote
the Social Doctrine of the Church and it therefore invites the participation
of businesspeople and professionals who acknowledge the principles of this
Doctrine and of the papal Magisterium, and who wish to contribute to the
creation of a new economic and social culture. Sugranyes Bickel emphasised
that in these last two years the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice has worked in
line with the themes of Pope Francis' 2013 address, in which he remarked that
it was essential to "restore to this word 'solidarity', viewed askance by the
world of economics - as if it were a bad word - the social dignity that it
deserves".
 Msgr. Scotti reiterated the importance of following Pope Francis' example in
challenging the "deviant culture" that has reached the point of discarding
people. "There are many who believe that the economy should assume the role of
absolute producer of the aims and values to which every single aspect of the
human dimension should be subject, justifying this with the fact that we live
in a post-ideological, post-political age. Certainly, this would be an
interesting aspect to analyse. ... However, contemporary culture can also be
analysed from the perspective of the Word of God. Considering that this award
is assigned to authors who seek to contribute, through their studies,
reflections and publications to learning anew how to take a scholarly view of
the present and on the use of money, it seems appropriate to me to recall the
words of the Qoheleth: 'Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever
loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless'".
 The names of the recipients of the second edition of the award were then
announced: Pierre de Lauzun, for his work "Finance: un regard chrétien. De la
banque mediéval a la mondialisation financière", a profound reflection on the
morality that motivates financial markets, viewed in the light of the social
doctrine of the Church, inviting consideration of an order other than that
purely linked to profit, and emphasising that there is no form of financial
operation that may be separated from social realities and moral needs.
 In the special section dedicated to young researchers of the social doctrine
of the Church, the winner was Alexander Stummvoll, born in 1983, for his
thesis "A Living Tradition. The Holy See, Catholic Social Doctrine and Global
Politics 1965-2000", presented in 2012 at the European University Institute,
Florence, Italy. The study examines the Social Doctrine of the Church in
international relations, referring to four major international issues that
take a concrete event as a starting point. With reference to the war in
Vietnam, he analyses the Holy See's commitment to peace; taking as a point of
reference the Polish crisis before 1989 he studies the politics of the Holy
See in relation to communism; from the conferences in Cairo and Beijing in
1994 and 1995 he examines the position of the Holy See regarding bioethical
questions, and finally in relation to the campaign against Third World debt on
the occasion of the 2000 Jubilee, he studies the Holy See's criticism of
unfettered capitalism.
 The awards will be presented by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich
und Freising and president of the Jury, during the next International Congress
of the Foundation, scheduled to take place from 25 to 27 May in the Vatican's
New Synod Hall and in the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome, on the theme
"Rethinking Key Features of Economic and Social Life".

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