On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Encyclical Populorum Progressio, a conference entitled “Prospects for service to integral human development: fifty years since Populorum Progressio” will be held on Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 April 2017 in the Vatican, in the New Synod Hall. The conference, organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, aims to study the theological anthropological and pastoral perspectives of the encyclical, especially in relation to the labour of those who work in favour of promoting the person, and to formulate guidelines for the activity of the new Dicastery.

The meeting will be attended, in particular, by members of the Pontifical Councils merged in the Dicastery (Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, Health Care Workers), representatives of the Episcopal Conferences and their social and “Justice and Peace” Commissions, representatives of international Catholic charitable organizations, and the diplomatic Corps credited to the Holy See.

The congress, after the introduction on Monday 3 April by Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, prefect of the Congregation for Promoting Human Integral Development, and the theological presentation of the anthropological theme by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is divided according to the three fundamental tensions of the person: body-soul, man-woman, and person-society. In addition to presentations by experts from different sectors, testimonies will be offered showing how the Church operates directly in favour of the weakest. The Cardinal Secretary of State will preside at the Eucharistic celebration Monday 3 April in St. Peter’s Basilica.

An audience with the Holy Father is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 4 April at 11:30.