Program
Catholic POST – Association for the Renewal of Catholic Political and Social Thought
International academic conference
Ludovika University of Public Service
Eötvös József Research Centre
Research Institute for Politics and Government
9-10 March, 2026, Budapest
Monday, 9 March
Welcome Address by Host Institution and Organisers – 9.15
KEYNOTE SPEAKER 1 – Fr Avelino Chico SJ – Introductory Remarks - 9.30
Session 1. - 10.15 - 11.55 - Foundations, Politics, and the Theoretical Development of Catholic Social Teaching
- 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
- Bracy Bersnak (Christendom College) - Jacques Maritain on Democracy and the Nation State
- Tamás Nyirkos (Ludovika University of Public Service) - Christianity and democracy: some lessons from Libertas praestantissimum
- Jan Bentz (Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford) - Engaging Politics as a Catholic: Recovering the Foundations of Political Reason in Light of Catholic Social Teaching
Break
Session 2. – 13.00 – 14.40 – Political Philosophy and State Theory (Parallel Session
- Cornelis J. Schilt (VUB and Lux Mundi) - Caritas in Veritate
- Olga Kovács-Latyseva (Axioma Center) - Juan Donoso Cortés’ Political Theology and His Hidden Contributions to the Catholic Social Teaching
- András Jancsó (Ludovika University of Public Service) - The Pre-Political Foundations of the State in the Social Teaching of Pope Benedict XVI
- Ádám Darabos (Ludovika University of Public Service) - Protestant Christian Realism for Catholic Social Thought
Session 3. – 13.00 – 14.40 – Social and Economic Life (Parallel Session)
- Piotr Mazurkiewicz (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw) – Natural law according to Benedict XVI
- Károly Mike ( Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) - Golgotha and Anti-Golgotha
- Rhianwen Daniel (Cardiff University) - Rurality and National Identity: The Influence of Catholic Social Teaching on the Development of Polish and Welsh Nationalisms
- Máté Botos (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest) -Vocation or Construction? How Catholic social teaching on labor can interpret Andrea Komlosy’s work theory
Break
Session 4 – 15.00 – 16.20 – Contemporary Political Debates and CST
- Michał Gierycz (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw) – “New paradigm of Catholicism” and its possible impact on CST
- Nicolas McAfee (Christendom College) - Confusion of Political Form in Contemporary Catholic Political Thought
- Alberto Garzoni (University of Oxford) - Loyal to Whom? Hungarian Catholics and Conflicting Allegiances
KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2 – Rocco Buttiglione (Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Vatican) – 16.40 – 17.40
ASSOCIATION MEETING – 18.00 – 19.00
Tuesday, 10 March
Session 5 – 09.00 – 10.40 – Community Life and the Common Good
- William Hannegan (Christendom College) - Community vs. Atomization: Why the Collapse in Catholic Practice?
- Christian Machek (Europa Aeterna - Akademie für politische Philosophie) – Renewal of Catholic Social Teaching
- Kálmán Tóth (Ludovika University of Public Service) - Should the Moral Foundations of the Catholic Church be Altered to Comply With Changing Social Norms?
- 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
Break
SESSION 6 – 11.00 – 12.40 - Morality, Art and The Global Church
- Lóránd Ujházi (Ludovika University of Public Service) - How did theology reorient the geopolitical position of the Church and the Holy See? From Real politics to moral theology
- Alex Taylor (Christendom College) - The Place of Art in Catholic Social Teaching: Why Recent Papal Addresses to Artists Should Inform Catholic Political Philosophy
- René Tapia (University of Barcelona) - General Welfare, Common Good and Buen Vivir: Reframing Latin American Constitutional Teleologies through the Chilean Experience
- Alvino-Mario Fantini (European Conservative) - The Reverential Option: Catholic Social Teaching, Colonialism, and International Development
Break
KEYNOTE SPEAKER 3 – Ryszard Legutko (Jagiellonian University, Krakow), 13.40 – 14.40
Break
SESSION 7 – 15.00 – 16.40 – New Perspectives of CST
- Maurizio Serio (Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome) - The Political Relevance of the Catholic Social Doctrine in the Third Millennium
- Antonio Campati (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) - Illiberal Democracy and Catholic Social Doctrine: A Problematic Relationship?
- Javier Crevillem & Juan Pablo Serra (Universidad Villanueva, Madrid /CUNEF Universidad, Madrid) - Can Christian Charity Have Borders? A Tradition-Informed Perspective on Migration
- Edward Hadas (University of Oxford) - Rectification of Names in Catholic Social Teaching
CONCLUDING SESSION – 16.40 – 17.20 – General Discussion