Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences Archives

Vatican’s “Ironic Employment Division” strikes again

News Analysis
Aug 31, 2019

Perhaps Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò’s first PR project at the Pontifical Academies for Science and for Social Sciences could be to explain what in the world he’s doing there in the first place.

Pope taps ex-communications czar who quit amid scandal for new PR role

Vatican
Aug 31, 2019

In what appears to be a new position, Monsignor Dario Viganò, the disgraced former head of Vatican communications, on Saturday was named “vice chancellor” of the Pontifical Academies for Sciences and Social Sciences, holding specific responsibility over communications.

Nations stirring up nationalism betray their mission, pope says

Catholic News Service, Vatican
May 2, 2019

Every nation is a product of immigration and the integration of diverse peoples, united by specific values, cultures and “healthy traditions,” Pope Francis said May 2.

Trafficking expert tells Vatican summit, ‘Slavery was never abolished’

Vatican
Nov 7, 2017

At a Vatican news conference on Monday to wrap up a Nov. 4-6 summit, a victim of modern-day slavery said, “Remember me when fighting human trafficking.” One expert called for significantly increased awareness of this $32 billion illegal industry, saying the sobering reality of the early 21st century is that “slavery was never abolished.”

‘Civilize the market’ for common good, care of creation, pope says

Catholic News Service, Vatican
Oct 20, 2017

Pope Francis said on Friday that in societies where profit is allowed to be the only concern, “democracy tends to become a plutocracy, where inequality and the exploitation of the planet grows.” The pontiff said political action “must be placed truly at the service of the human person, the common good and respect for nature.”

Pope Francis’s attack on “libertarian individualism” not about libertarians

Commentary
May 5, 2017

When Pope Francis speaks of libertarian individualism, he describes it as something which he says exalts the selfish ideal, whereby it is only the individual who gives values to things and interpersonal relationships, and where it is only the individual who decides what is good and what is bad. The question that remains is whether the pope is offering a fair or accurate definition of libertarianism.