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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