Vatican prepares new series of conferences on social development

Published: 2007-11-26

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Forty years after Pope Paul VI's groundbreaking encyclical on human development, "Populorum Progressio," the Vatican is preparing to launch a new series of conferences and publications on poverty, corruption, disarmament, prisons and the ethics of taxation. The new proposals were discussed at the Nov. 20-21 plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which examined the impact of the 1967 encyclical and the new challenges that have emerged since its publication. In a statement, the council announced proposals for at least four major international conferences on themes related to justice and world peace. It said the topics will include "politics, democracy and values"; disarmament; Catholic social doctrine and the laity; and "ethics and taxation." Future documents will address the topics of poverty and globalization; penal justice and the re-education of convicts; and the fight against corruption, it said.

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