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Panel I: Foundations, Politics, and the Theoretical Development of Catholic Social Teaching
Dr. Péter Krisztián ZACHAR (Ludovika University of Public Service)
Learning from the Past: The Catholic Social People’s Movement and the Renewal of Christian Social Thought
The Catholic Social People’s Movement (Katolikus Szociális Népmozgalom), founded in Hungary in 1943, emerged during one of the most turbulent moments in European history. Rooted in the papal social encyclicals Rerum Novarum (1891) and Quadragesimo Anno (1931), the Movement aimed to translate Catholic social teaching into concrete political and social reform. It represented an ambitious attempt to balance faith, social justice, and democracy at a time when authoritarianism, war, and ideological extremism were reshaping Europe.
This paper re-examines the legacy of the Movement as a historical laboratory of Catholic political and social engagement. Drawing on archival sources and intellectual history, it reconstructs how Catholic thinkers such as László Varga S.J., Vid Mihelics, Béla Kovrig, Jenő Kerkai S.J. envisioned a morally grounded political community. Their thought combined deep respect for human dignity with a conviction that Christian ethics could inspire a fair and cohesive social order.
In light of today’s global crises (rising inequality, populism, cultural fragmentation, and the moral disorientation of Western societies) the questions once faced by the Catholic Social People’s Movement regain striking relevance. What role can faith-based ethics play in rebuilding trust in democratic institutions? How can social teaching guide responses to ecological and technological challenges? And how might Christian Democracy renew itself in an era of disenchantment? The paper argues that revisiting the intellectual and moral heritage of the Movement offers more than historical insight: it provides a framework for rethinking Catholic social responsibility in the 21st century. The experience of these mid-century Catholic reformers reminds us that the Church’s social mission cannot remain abstract — it must continually engage with the real moral and political dilemmas of its time. By learning from their courage, realism, and moral clarity, we may rediscover pathways toward a renewed, ethically coherent Christian presence in public life today.
Dr. Bracy BERSNAK (Christendom College)
Jacques Maritain on Democracy and the Nation State
Jacques Maritain sought to reconcile Thomistic political thought, and the Catholic tradition more broadly, with democracy at a time when many Catholic thinkers were attracted to alternatives to liberal democracy. He began to defend democracy in response to the papal condemnation of Action Française and continued to do so in response to the spread of antidemocratic movements in the 1930s and 1940s. After World War II, Maritain exemplified the internationalist trend in twentieth century Catholic political thought. The destructiveness of the war was inconceivable without the modern nation state. Therefore, by appealing to natural human rights and the international community, he hoped to limit the prerogatives of the nation state. But Maritain’s concern about nationalism and the state led to an inattention to the territorial and national setting of democracy, which undermines democracy in the long run by outsourcing political authority to unaccountable international bodies. In fact, this seems to be a lacuna of Catholic social doctrine more generally. A related shortcoming is his account of rights. Though Maritain attempted to ground rights in natural law and duties, at times they seemed open-ended and susceptible to abuse by empowering a future international government. My paper will argue that Catholic political thought should recognize the inescapably territorial nature of democracy and rehabilitate the nation state.
Dr. Tamás NYIRKOS (Ludovika University of Public Service)
Christianity and democracy: some lessons from Libertas praestantissimum
Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter Immortale Dei (1885) is often cited as the first evidence that the Catholic Church started to liberalize its approach to the issues of political government, thereby paving the way toward its later, more democratic stance (“The right to rule is not necessarily bound up with any special mode of government”, §4). However, the same Leo XIII also declared in his Libertas praestantissimum (1888), that democracy evoked great dangers like that of the tyranny of the majority (when “the law determining what it is right to do and avoid doing is at the mercy of a majority, this is simply a road leading straight to tyranny”, §16). The paper examines the contemporary context of this statement with special regard to its secular parallels, as well as its embeddedness in Catholic political thought from medieval to modern times. In a longer perspective, it can also be demonstrated that many later Catholic authors (most notably Jacques Maritain) saw democracy as a relative and not an absolute good, warning against the idolization of majority government. Today, when Catholic principles are no longer self-evident for the majority of the population and yet democracy is sometimes treated as the only possible form of government, such warnings may once again be worthy of consideration.
Dr. Ferenc HÖRCHER (Ludovika University of Public Service)
The virtue of prudence in the Social Teaching of the Church: The example of Saint John Paul II
Prudence constitutes a pivotal concept in Aristotle’s practical philosophy, where it serves as the bridge between the moral and intellectual virtues and defines the character of the good statesman. This significance extends into the Christian tradition, where prudence occupies a central place in the thought of Thomas Aquinas and, later, emerges as a key notion in early modern political theory, for example in the work of the former Jesuit Giovanni Botero, who developed the idea of "reason of state" while seeking to reconcile it with Christian moral principles.
This paper argues that prudence retained its centrality in twentieth-century Catholic Social Teaching, as well. Although by that time the term had acquired modern connotations, the popes drew upon its rich traditional meaning as one of the four cardinal virtues. Pope Saint John Paul II, in particular, began his pontificate with a profound reflection on prudence. This occurred within the context of his decision to continue the program initiated by his predecessor, Pope John Paul I. The latter had intended to expound upon the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity, followed by the four cardinal virtues. These virtues he called, following Pope John XXIII, collectively as the "seven lamps" of the Christian life.
John Paul II, took up the task of addressing the cardinal virtues, devoting a General Audience on 25 October 1978 specifically to prudence as part of this series. The analysis will examine the conceptual framework that John Paul II provided in his treatment of prudence, It will also reflect on the geopolitical circumstances of his time, and his unique perspective as the first pope from a nation beyond the Iron Curtain.
The conclusion will propose that John Paul II perceived himself not only as the spiritual leader of the universal Church but also as a practically wise guide for the Vatican City State, exercising prudence at a decisive juncture in global politics. This dual role underscores the enduring relevance of prudence in the Church’s social doctrine, as a virtue that informs both personal moral action and responsible leadership in the temporal order.
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Panel II: Political Philosophy and State Theory
Dr. Cornelis J. SCHILT (Lux Mundi)
Caritas in Veritate
In his centenary encyclical Centesimus Annus of 1991, its ‘one-hundred years’ referring to Rerum Novarum, Pope Saint John Paul II looked back upon the seminal writings of his predecessor Leo XIII and subsequent popes on the Church’s social teachings. Written shortly after the momentous events of 1989 that saw a profound change in the global order, he then immediately put his gaze toward the future. Among the many important messages contained in Centesimus Annus, one that stood out was that ‘the social message of the Gospel must not be considered a theory, but above all else a basis and a motivation for action.’ (CA 57).
One of these actions was the creation of Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP), whose ‘specific goal is to help promote the study and diffusion of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.’ Yet despite the foundation’s now thirty-five-year anniversary and the inclusion in its ranks of high-profile clergy, businesspeople, academics, and aristocracy, the organization remains little-known and has had limited impact. Its focus seems to be too much on theory, and too little on practice. At best, it uncritically equates the Church’s social teachings with the WHO’s sustainability goals and promotes those as practice; at worse, it never moves beyond theory, in regard of which it endorses a very liberal agenda. This agenda is greatly inspired by the various encyclicals of the late Pope Francis, whose genuine, deep love for the vulnerable and oppressed at times seemingly made him lose sight of the unchanging truth of the Gospel.
Yet Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate is conspicuously absent from CAPP-conversations, and those of many others who fall into the trap outlined by Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue. MacIntyre so vividly described how in particular during the twentieth century our capital virtues eroded. Their names remained, but their content changed. In particular caritas, the unyielding love for God and man, was slowly reinterpreted as something altogether different, as affirming man’s every whim. Christ’s love for all men regardless of their sinfulness was slowly twisted into an affirmation of the sin, instead of the sinner: ‘Go, and sin no more’ replaced by a ‘Stay, it doesn’t matter if you sin.’
As such, despite the well-willing efforts of organizations like CAPP, a hundred-and-thirty-five years after Rerum Novarum we are still in need of a proper translation from social theory to social practice. In a time where the Church is in turmoil, both from within and without, it seems more prevalent than ever to return to the Gospel, to study and live the words of truth spoken and lived by Christ and the Saints, to have caritas and veritate. It does not ask: how can we make Christ palatable to man, it asks how we can make man palatable to Christ. That should be the object of any social theory of the Church, and the world is in dire need of it. In this contribution, I will try to draw the outline of how such a social theory would look like in both theory and practice, and how it can be implemented.
Olga KOVÁCS-LATYSEVA (Axioma Center; Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
Juan Donoso Cortés’ Political Theology and His Hidden Contributions to the Catholic Social Teaching
Juan Donoso Cortés was one of the loudest voices of counterrevolution in the long 19th century. The Spanish political actor and thinker formulated ideas on Catholic statehood (including dictatorship), which were significant in themselves, but his resistance to revolutionary pathos even helped shape the intellectual foundation of Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors. Based on the argument that Pope Pius IX’s teaching had a significant impact on Pope Leo XIII (especially in his early years), this leads to the strong assumption that Donoso Cortés, by forming deep layers of concepts, is the predecessor of Catholic social teaching. His critique of liberalism and socialism is rooted in Christian theological premises. Furthermore, these ideologies are not compatible with Christian anthropology, which should be the basis of every political order.
This presentation’s ambition is threefold. It provides (1) a brief examination of Donoso Cortés’ state theory based on Christian teachings, including his idea of the „rational dictatorship”. It (2) analyses his impact on Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors and (3) analyses whether Pope Leo XIII’s teachings, such as the Rerum novarum, integrated Pope Pius IX’s antimodernist teachings. Ultimately, the underlying argument is that there is a continuity of Catholic social thought from which we can learn and in which Donoso Cortés is present.
András JANCSÓ (Ludovika University of Public Service; Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
The Pre-Political Foundations of the State in the Social Teaching of Pope Benedict XVI
The question of what makes the modern liberal and secular state possible has received increasing scholarly attention since the mid-twentieth century. Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde’s well-known thesis highlights a key problem: the liberal state cannot provide the normative basis it needs to sustain itself. Joseph Ratzinger became one of the most consistent interpreters and further developers of this paradox. Already as a cardinal, he emphasized that the moral and spiritual resources supporting the political community cannot emerge solely from positive law. Ratzinger argued that Europe’s cultural and political order ultimately rests on pre-political foundations – historical, cultural, and religious elements – deeply shaped by Christianity.
My presentation has two main parts. First, it examines how this idea took form in Ratzinger’s theological and political thought before his papacy: how he interpreted the Böckenförde paradox and how he reached the conclusion that the liberal state presupposes an anthropological and moral framework shaped by the Christian tradition. The second part discusses the social teaching of Pope Benedict XVI, focusing especially on the encyclicals Caritas in Veritate and Deus Caritas Est. It shows how these documents address the pre-political foundations of the political community and how Benedict links the normativity of truth, love, and institutional order. My central claim is that Benedict XVI consistently and with philosophical depth articulated the conviction that a pluralistic state cannot be entirely value-neutral; rather, it is grounded in pre-political anthropological and ethical assumptions that have found their most mature expression in the Christian tradition.
Dr. Ádám DARABOS (Ludovika University of Public Service; Axioma Center)
Protestant Christian Realism for Catholic Social Thought
From Pope Leo XIII to Pope Francis, the normative element (“what is to be?”) has always been the dominant part of Catholic social thought. This has led to significant development in social and political principles, including the ideas of human dignity, subsidiarity, and solidarity. This approach to social and political issues serves as a theoretically deep ethical compass for those who follow the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, this has led to the marginalisation of a significant question in the socio-political sphere: the pragmatic descriptive element (“what is?”). Without providing sufficient answers to the question “what is?”, are we able to find proper arguments for the question “what is to be?” This presentation seeks to provide an explanation for this question by (1) showing the structural framework of normative reasoning behind Catholic social encyclicals and (2) supplying a possible contribution from the pragmatism of Protestant Christian Realism, as articulated by Reinhold Niebuhr.
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Panel III: Contemporary Political Debates and CST
Dr. Michał GIERYCZ (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University)
“New paradigm of Catholicism” and its possible impact on CST
Dr. Nicolas McAFEE (Christendom College)
Confusion of Political Form in Contemporary Catholic Political Thought
This paper begins from the premise that there exists rampant confusion in the Anglophone vocabulary of political forms. Many intra-Catholic and conservative debates about the present conditions of the American order, for example, divide along the line of affinity or hostility towards “nationalism,” but this term is not only useless but actively misleading given that, as I will argue, America is not in fact a nation but an imperial union of many peoples. This reality has been slowly but steadily acknowledged with growing frequency by conservatives in the public square, and privately by such prominent “nationalists” as Yoram Hazony and Stephen Wolfe. Furthermore, English translations of the modern magisterium on social and political issues often render civitas and status generically as “state,” thereby obscuring if not effacing the critical distinction between “states” as generic forms of government and “modern states,” typically characterized by bureaucratic centralization, a monopoly on the use of legitimate violence, and the priority of rights-based protections over deliberation on the best common way of life. After setting up this problem, I will survey existing possible responses by considering recent evaluations of nations and modern states in Catholic political thought—particularly drawing on the work of Pierre Manent, Russell Hittinger, V. Bradley Lewis, Alasdair MacIntyre, William Cavanaugh, and Andrew Willard Jones. I will then offer a preliminary sketch of how I believe subsequent work of Catholic political philosophy can make large strides towards disambiguating nation from empire, and civitas from status, while maintaining both the substance and appearance of piety and epistemically humble realism. Indeed, I maintain that these latter goods of piety and realism are themselves dependent on a greater clarity of thought and vocabulary, especially for those of us with a preference for republican modes of self-government.
Alberto GARZONI (University of Oxford)
Loyal to Whom? Hungarian Catholics and Conflicting Allegiances
My paper will investigate the relations between the public expression of a Christian identity and active patriotism in Hungary, both in the Cold War period and in more recent years. In the wake of Kantorowicz’s studies, I will problematise the idea that ‘the modern nation was formed not only through the destruction of the unifying structures of Christendom’ (Jones 2025) and advocate for a nuanced, peace-oriented vision of patriotism.
In a first section, I will sketch how Mihelics Vid understood tensions between national identity and the pursuit of a Christian democratic agenda by looking at some of his post-1956 contributions in Új Ember and Vigilia as much as at his participation in the Hungarian delegation at the Second Vatican Council (von Klimó, in Kosicki 2016). While situated in a rediscovery of Mihelics’s intellectual profile, this operation will reveal a theoretical blend of Augustinian Catholicism, imperial reminiscences, and openness to contemporary intellectual trends, within the Church and the political sphere.
In a second section, I will build on the works of contemporary scholars such as Loustau (2022), Merabishvili (2023), and Neumann (2023), to analyse how post-Soviet Hungary’s public policy and international posture have been infused with structural, intentional references to Christianity as well as to religious and ideological persecution—especially with respect to social and ethnic cohesion, cultural heritage, education, and European integration—as a strategy to preserve the nation’s sense of self. I will also analyse these phenomena with respect to Christian nationalistic discourse in the West.
Through these two sets of examples, I will argue that the deployment of nation-sensitive narratives is only warranted when it does not feed secular structures of powers (e.g. the State’s). Echoing John Paul II’s magisterial teaching (e.g. in Memory and Identity) and the Augustinian sensitivity recently revived by Pope Leo, I will rather contend that patriotism, as a projection of one’s family relationships onto wider circles of corporate belonging, functions as a distinctive yet provisional sign of one’s fundamental commitment to Christ and the Church, both in its current public configuration and its final, eschatological form. Rigorous awareness of this, I will conclude, is instrumental in making a strong case for the resurgence of Catholic social teaching in present-day Western politics.
Dr. Javier CREVILLÉN (Villanueva University) – Dr. Juan Pablo SERRA (CUNEF University)
Can Christian Charity Have Borders? A Tradition-Informed Perspective on Migration
This paper proposes a nuanced Catholic approach to contemporary migration, one that seeks to integrate the legitimate moral claims of migrants with the equally legitimate claims of historical communities. While recent papal teachings—most prominently those of Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti (2020) and related documents (2024, 2025)—emphasize welcome, protection, promotion, and integration, they often frame migration primarily through humanitarian and affective categories. Our aim is not to contest the ordinary magisterium, but to complement it with insights from the broader and deeper tradition of the Church, especially where that tradition articulates the natural conditions under which charity must operate. We are convinced that such an approach is needed in contemporary philosophical debates, where prevailing positions often rest on incompatible premises (individual or communal rights, procedural consensus, utility maximization, or ethnic preservation) and thus lack a broader perspective grounded in a sound understanding of human nature.
To do this, we draw on theological and philosophical sources that describe the social nature of the human person, the importance of political friendship, and the role of cultural continuity. St. Thomas Aquinas offers a particularly rich framework. In both the Summa Theologiae (I-II, q.105, a.3) and his commentary on Aristotle (III, 2), Aquinas emphasizes that civic friendship, the foundation of political communities, arises through shared life and a degree of likeness. This does not entail hostility toward the foreigner; rather, it recognizes that political communities depend on stable bonds that cannot be indefinitely stretched without weakening the common good.
Similarly, patristic sources such as St. John Chrysostom warn against neglecting natural and communal obligations in the name of a universal benevolence that becomes abstract and ineffective. These teachings remind us that Christian charity does not abolish the natural order but presupposes and perfects it—gratia non tollit naturam sed perficit eam. The Incarnation affirms historical human communities as meaningful spaces for moral life, not obstacles to be surpassed.
Building on these insights, we suggest a framework for migration that avoids both emotivist humanitarianism and exclusionary nationalism. This framework holds that (1) the dignity of migrants demands just treatment, humane conditions, and the possibility of integration; (2) political communities possess a natural right to preserve their cultural and civic cohesion; and (3) authentic Christian charity requires prudence—making decisions that respect persons while safeguarding the institutional and cultural goods necessary for the flourishing of all.
Our proposal seeks to enrich contemporary Catholic Social Teaching by reintroducing categories—nature, community, political friendship, prudence—that have been underemphasized in recent years but remain fundamental to the Church’s intellectual tradition.
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Panel IV: Community Life and the Common Good
Dr. William HANNEGAN (Christendom College)
Community vs. Atomization: Why the Collapse in Catholic Practice?
Catholic religious practice in the West has seen an immense decline since the middle of the 20th century. Explanations for the decline abound. Many focus on secularization, atheism, or a loss of faith. I argue that an often unremarked, yet likely more important, cause is social atomization. My focus is the United States of America. I draw on the work of Robert Putnam (e.g., Bowling Alone) and other sociologists to show a steady trend toward social atomization and away from nearly all forms of communal engagement, membership, group identification, commitment to, and willingness to be limited by, community. I also show that, by contrast, non-churchgoing Westerns still display a willingness to believe in the transcendent. People believe. But they believe what they want to believe, rather than the official doctrines of a religious group to which they are bound. The Catholic Church, with its authorities, its parish structure, and its obligations, is in direct opposition to the atomization that began in the mid 20th century. It stands to reason that the Catholic Church was hit particularly hard as the United States atomized. If the Catholic Church wants Americans (and Westerners in general) to join the Church, or come back to the Church, her greatest obstacle may not be lack of faith but a fear of belonging.
I would like to propose that Catholic social thinkers address this question head-on: Why do Westerners shrink from any kind of robust community? Can Catholic social thought tell us not only what good community is but how to shift a culture to even want community? Are there social conditions for inclining people to belong? Catholic churches, I suspect, will not be filled again until we see a general shift toward community and belonging.
Dr. Christian MACHEK (Europa Aeterna – Akademie für politische Philosophie)
Renewal of Catholic Social Teaching
The Catholic Social Teaching (CST) should take a path focused on upholding human dignity, promoting justice and the common good, and living out principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. This today needs new clarity and cohesion.
In order to find and realize a common good, the CST today must reaffirm its foundation, which particularly lies in the natural law theory, which has its roots in Thomistic-Scholastic, Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy and metaphysics.
All the principles of the CST are related to a concept of order, namely of the soul of the individual human person and also of society, all of which a profound metaphysical philosophy provides for. Order, justice, peace and faith are core principles of the CST and mutually connected to each other.
A God given order can only be possible through the rejection of sin, thus the CST as a field of moral theology must reject all ideologies that particularly contradict Biblical revelation on moral teachings, e.g. concerning abortion and gender-theory.
One important and central pillar of a Christian and Catholic moral teaching lies in the God given 10 commandments/the Torah, which need a new focus and emphasis as a moral basis for society. Likewise the teachings concerning virtues must be rediscovered.
The CST today unfortunately is of little relevance in the public and political sphere; this has its cause in a dilution of its teachings, especially in the Western Europe. This must change by pointing out the fallacies of various ideologies, in particular regarding a true understanding of freedom.
Any real and also spiritual order leads to the wellbeing of souls and their ultimative salvation, thus the representatives of the Church and Catholic scholars must take a solid position in the public sphere, to which they have every right in a democracy and as guaranteed in various concordats, in particular regarding peace in Europe.
Thus the CST must reaffirm its teaching on a right relationship between state and religion, which lies not in a separation, but in a distinction – Christ is king also of all worldly matters. Christianity provides the best foundation of democracy and the wellbeing of people.
Liberal, leftist and globalist ideologies have severely harmed the people of the Western world, leading to disintegration, moral corruption and a loss of identity. Thus the Church ought to support all forces and people that strengthen identities, thus also order and spiritual wellbeing.
The evils of society are not mitigated when religion is suppressed. The CST plays a crucial role for the realization of justice. Catholics must pick up the battle for the salvations of souls, also in alliance with other confessions, religions and people of good will.
Dr. Kálmán TÓTH (Ludovika University of Public Service)
Should the Moral Foundations of the Catholic Church be Altered to Comply With Changing Social Norms?
It is hard to dispute that Christianity is on the decline in the West. This process can be traced back to the Age of the Enlightenment, when laicization and secularization began to spread among the intellectual elite. By the second half of the 20th century, these ideas permeated the whole of society, which, as we have witnessed it in the past few decades, has eventually led to the questioning of the basic moral foundations of social norms and to the denial of natural moral law in mainstream Western media.
In this situation, Christian Churches are facing the crucial and inevitable question: Should they stick to their traditional moral foundations that are based on the authority of divine revelation and are rationally backed up by natural law, or should they adjust these norms in an attempt to comply with subversive mainstream ideology in order to increase their declining social acceptance.
Until the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church had been seen as the guardian of traditional morality. Although the basic moral foundations were not questioned there, the initiated processes later led to calls for further renewal on the field of moral norms as well. Sadly, Pope Francis did not reject these calls as strongly as it would have been necessary not to undermine the position of the Church as a universal moral authority.
In my lecture I will argue that ordinary people, overwhelmed by a multitude of ideological and manipulative influences through various forms of media, have an inner need for a strong moral compass, a reference point, to make sense of life and to be able to find their way through the uncertainties and problems they face every day. If the Catholic Church wants to preserve its social relevance, it has to serve as an authority promoting natural moral law, and it has to provide believers with credible intellectual tools in debates with representants of mainstream woke ideology, so that they feel that they are not alone and that they have a strong community of like-minded people behind them whose power comes from the authority of the Church’s moral doctrines based on divine revelation and rationally conceivable natural law.
Alonso Ignacio Salinas GARCÍA (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile)
The Need for a Catholic Orientation of Political and Social Thought for Re-enchantment. Thomistic Political Prudence, the Common Good, and Witness to Faith in the Construction of Social Justice
The lecture will analyse the need to restore the integrity of Catholic Christian thought in the contemporary political and social sphere through a hermeneutical reading of the Church's social teaching. The research demonstrates that, in an era characterised by democratic disenchantment and the decline of Christian democracy, Catholic social thought—especially rooted in Thomistic philosophy and communitarian personalism—offers a robust conceptual framework for prudent political action. Starting from an understanding of the saeculum as an intermediate time between the fall and the eschaton, the work examines how political prudence, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the preferential option for the poor can guide social transformations towards justice and fraternity. The research is based entirely on the pontifical documents of the Social Magisterium: Rerum Novarum, Aeterni Patris, Populorum Progressio, Laborem Exercens, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Deus Caritas Est, Fratelli Tutti, and Laudato Si', demonstrating that Catholic social doctrine constitutes a living and relevant response to contemporary challenges. The conclusion emphasises that the witness of Christian justice and charity, while recognising the impossibility of radical transformation beyond sin without the coming and definitive reign of Christ, does not abdicate its commitment to building more just structures, but rather bases it on the theological hope that every temporal order is a space for experiencing daily salvation for the Social Reign of Christ.
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Panel V: Morality, Art and The Global Church
Rev. Dr. Loránd UJHÁZI (Ludovika University of Public Service; Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
The Geopolitics of the Holy See in Light of Shifting Theological Principles
Security and international studies frequently employ the term faith-based diplomacy to denote the constructive role religious communities play in crisis management. Beyond this context, the Holy See occupies a unique position within the international community, regarding both bilateral and multilateral frameworks. International organizations often serve as forums for the Church to promote peace and security, as well as to address emerging security concerns. However, the theological principles underpinning the geopolitical stance of the Church or the Holy See are rarely discussed in depth. This lecture focuses on elucidating the specific theological principles that offer a deeper understanding of the Holy See's position in the international arena. Particular emphasis is placed on post-Vatican II theological perspectives –specifically the "theology of the periphery" – which have fundamentally reshaped the foreign policy of the Holy See.
Dr. Alex TAYLOR (Christendom College)
The Place of Art in Catholic Social Teaching: Why Recent Papal Addresses to Artists Should Inform Catholic Political Philosophy
As Pope Benedict XVI wrote almost sixteen years ago, “Unfortunately, the present time is marked, not only by negative elements in the social and economic sphere, but also by a weakening of hope, by a certain lack of confidence in human relationships, which gives rise to increasing signs of resignation, aggression and despair.” (Benedict XVI, “Meeting with Artists in the Sistine Chapel,” November 21, 2009) A crisis of despair afflicts not only the West (Western and Central Europe, Great Britain, the United States, Canada) but also many countries culturally influenced by the West (South Korea, Japan, Mexico, etc). This crisis manifests itself in a variety of ways, differently in different countries: fertility rates radically below replacement, increasing drug use, and legalization of assisted suicide are just a few among other results of a worldwide spiritual collapse which is not unaffected by political conditions in these different nations. While there is no simple solution to this spiritual malaise and its symptoms, one under-examined aspect of Catholic social teaching would prove useful to those who seek to bring about renewal in these societies: the necessity of authentically beautiful art to provide human beings with a truly vital, existential courage.
Catholic Social Teaching narrowly construed focuses on principles derived from the natural law, such as the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the dignity of the human person, but those concerned about the ability of the Church to act as light and leaven within the contemporary world should not neglect the properly theological role of beautiful art to assist in the conversion and encouragement of persons in societies too often drawn to despair. By examining key aspects of recent papal addresses and letters to and about artists, this paper will propose how the teachings of the popes on art should be made more obviously apart of Catholic Social Teaching, so as to continue to address both mainstream political and social philosophers who have considered the relationship of art to social life, as well as contemporary challenges, such as an ideological rejection of beauty and the technological embrace of AI generated art. As Pope Paul VI wrote, “This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the heart of man and is that precious fruit which resists the wear and tear of time, which unites generations and makes them share things in admiration.”
Dr. Rhianwen DANIEL (City Lit)
Rurality and National Identity: The Influence of Catholic Social Teaching on the Development of Polish and Welsh Nationalisms
This paper examines how Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has shaped the nationalisms of Poland and Wales, focusing on their respective 20th century histories and current legacy. Although the recent farmers’ protests in both countries have ostensibly concerned economic policies such as cheap agricultural imports and EU regulations in Poland, and post-Brexit subsidy reforms in Wales, they also reflect wider debates about national identity, rurality, and cultural heritage. The increasing displacement of family farming by industrial agribusiness has resulted in the loss of local traditions, dialects, communal practices, and intergenerational knowledge, undermining regional belonging and national cohesion. This paper examines the relevance of CST regarding the dignity of human labour and stewardship of land for both countries’ cultural, as opposed to ‘merely’ economic situations.
First, the paper explores how, in Wales, the intelligentsia who founded the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru in 1925 were profoundly influenced by CST, and how the party’s policy agenda and ideological blueprint during the interwar years were structured according to it. Specifically, the principles of distributism and subsidiarity, articulated in the papal encyclicals of Leo XIII (1891) and Pius XI (1931), underpinned their programme for cultural and rural regeneration involving more distributed land ownership and a large increase in local cooperatives. This, in turn, would help sustain cultural heritage and national identity while simultaneously functioning as non-governmental curbs on corporate monopolies, industrial exploitation, and rural depopulation. Today, these ideas underpin multiple Welsh Government initiatives for rural and linguistic revitalisation; though this influence is rarely acknowledged, and the initiatives’ goals are also contradicted by multiple net-zero compliance demands.
Secondly, the paper argues that in Poland, the influence of CST on Solidarność, propelled by the leadership of Pope Jan Pawel II and transmitted through the churches, cannot be overstated. The Pope’s propagation of the Catholic ethic of labour regarding the spiritual significance of work, labour and dignity, co-creation and the human vocation to till the earth, as set out in Laborem Exercens (1981), rallied the entire nation and formed the philosophical basis of Solidarność’s postulates (see Kościelniak 2023). Today, the Polish Catholic Church continues to express its solidarity with the farmers in such terms, the countryside remains predominantly Catholic, and Wiejska Solidarność (Rural Solidarity) maintains its deeply Catholic identity and outlook. The paper concludes by discussing CST’s contemporary relevance for current debates regarding national identity, rural heritage and social cohesion in light of this comparative case study.
Rev. Dr. Piotr MAZURKIEWICZ (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University)
Natural law according to Benedict XVI
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Panel VI: Contemporary Political Debates and CST
Dr. Maurizio SERIO (Guglielmo Marconi University)
The Political Relevance of the Catholic Social Doctrine in the Third Millennium
The contribution analyzes the identity and mission of the Catholic Social Doctrine (CSD) in the context of the planetary challenges of the Third Millennium – from the new phase of the globalization to the multiple emergencies of our time – emphasizing the need to overcome the «excessive sectorality of knowledge» in favor of an «epistemic revolution» that integrates competencies and knowledge.
Regarding the political direction of temporal affairs, the CSD does not impose practical, dogmatic solutions to political and economic problems, leaving such matters to free discussion. Instead, it offers a prophetic guide and dispenser of logical-argumentative principles useful for the maintenance of the democratic public sphere, opposing political devices of a paternalistic or totalitarian nature. The entire Catholic social teaching is founded on the affirmation of the intangible dignity of the human person and its other three permanent principles: common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity. In an era of political decline of Western Christian democracy, the CSD presents itself as a "vaccine" against the «technocratic paradigm» and «intellectual sovereignism». The CSD's authoritativeness in the "world" is not ex ante but ex post, stemming from its degree of critical openness and attentive dialogue with advanced human speculation, integrating heterogeneous lessons from the human and social sciences.
The CSD fulfills a dual function: normative (magisterial) and descriptive (receptive to contingent analyses). Regarding contemporary challenges, the CSD is committed to promoting a culture of solidarity and care. Priorities for its future development include the application of the principle of openness as an essential guiding and normative criterion for more equitable and inclusive social projects. Solidarity, in particular, is understood as a moral virtue and a social attitude, whose sociological change is confirmed by empirical research that sees it merging with «self-expressive values» into a peculiar kind of humanism.
Finally, the CSD has got an eminently practical purpose for addressing specific historical contingencies, and its dialogical method is fundamental for its diffusion as popular culture. In this way, the contribution concludes by formulating open questions for future research, particularly regarding the substance of "openness" as an anthropological category and the non-static nature of the notion of common good (exclusive or inclusive, static or dynamic). The vision promoted is of a poliarchic (or plurarchic) type, which rejects the hierarchy among the spheres of sense production (culture, religion, economy, politics) and counteracts forms of power monopolization, including state ones.
Dr. Antonio CAMPATI (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)
Loyal to Whom? Hungarian Catholics and Conflicting Allegiances
As is well established in the scholarly literature, the term illiberal democracy has a long genealogy and encompasses a heterogeneous set of meanings. Consequently, no consensus has emerged regarding its precise conceptual boundaries. To grasp the contemporary illiberal turn in its full complexity, it is necessary to return to the political and intellectual traditions that nourish it. The history of the concept is, in fact, extensive and rooted in multiple strands of illiberal thought.
This paper seeks to elucidate the intricate relationship between democracy, liberalism, and Christianity. The notion of illiberal Christian democracy denotes a rupture—or at the very least a deliberate retreat—in the historically consolidated relationship between democratic principles and Catholic-liberal political thought. The analysis proceeds in two steps. First, it reconstructs the protracted and often conflictual history of the encounter between democracy and Christianity, from Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum to its most recent developments (culminating in the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV). Second, it examines the theoretical and institutional implications that the rise of this illiberal orientation entails for contemporary liberal and representative democracies.
Dr. Károly MIKE (Eötvös Loránd University)
Golgotha and Anti-Golgotha
How should we respond to the scandal of innocent suffering? The response offered by Catholic social thought fundamentally distinguishes it from its main alternatives. I take the vantage point of the ‘Apage Satanas’ episode, at which the ways of Christ and Satan definitively part. In this moment, Christ publicly rebukes Peter for attempting to deter him from Golgotha, simultaneously inviting his disciples to follow him there. Christ presents the suffering of the innocent not merely as compatible with, but as an outstanding sign and proof of God’s goodness. Accepting this truth is central to following Christ’s Way – the path of Christian faith – while rejecting it is to follow Satan’s way: the path of falsehood and evil.
How can both sides of this stark dichotomy be sustained? Why does Christ’s Way lead to Golgotha, where innocent suffering is embraced? And where does Satan’s way lead? I propose that the Way of Golgotha means that we firmly place conscience above the avoidance of suffering, reassured that God will help us preserve our innocence in suffering, allowing us to freely choose happiness.
By contrast, Satan’s ways prioritize the avoidance of suffering over conscience, thereby downgrading or discarding the latter. These paths lead to the illusionary heights of an Anti-Golgotha. In our current age, its three prominent peaks are Utilitarianism, Utopia and the realm of the Übermensch.
I examine how each peak provides a distinct – yet related – response to suffering. While Utilitarianism and Utopia preserve conscience in a degraded form, the apex of the Übermensch discards it completely. Here, we encounter the anti-Cross: the suicide pod, a device for painless euthanasia.
Dr. Máté BOTOS (Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
Vocation or Construction? How Catholic social teaching on labor can interpret Andrea Komlosy’s work theory
In Catholic social teaching the encyclical Laborem Exercens (1981) presents a universal and theological vision of human work. From that perspective, work has an inherent dignity because it is performed by a person and expresses participation in God’s creative activity. It emphasizes the priority of labor over capital, the rights of workers, and the moral centrality of work in human life.
By contrast, social historian Andrea Komlosy (1957-) argues in her book entitled Work: The Last 1,000 Years, that “work” is not a universal category but a historically and culturally variable construct shaped by gender, power, and global economic relations. Komlosy highlights the coexistence of free and coerced labor, the invisibility of unpaid care work, and the global inequalities shaped by colonial histories.
When theology-oriented Catholic work theory enters in dialogue with Komlosy’s secular, progressive and human-centered thoughts, the comparison may result special benefits for Catholic understandings of human labor. While Komlosy challenges the encyclical’s tendency to treat work as a timeless category and exposes blind spots around gender, informal labor, and global inequalities, her point of view also enriches Catholic social teaching by showing where its moral claims may become broadened and deepened.
