Guzmán at the Pontifical Academy: political support, scientific prestige and high-level contacts

The decision of the Pope Francisco to incorporate Martin Guzman to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences is, in addition to an obvious political support in the face of the questions that may arise from within the government itself, and especially from hard Kirchnerism, which placed the Secretary of Commerce as a wedge within the expanded economic team Inside, Roberto FelettiIt is also an endorsement for the IMF and a way of putting it on a par with leading international figures.

“It is a very important designation. The Academy incorporates believing and non-believing scholars and fosters a true dialogue between the sciences ”, the Italian journalist told Infobae Nello Scavo, of Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Episcopal Conference, and author of the book “The list of Bergoglio”, in which – after the questions to now Pope Francis by Horace Verbitsky and the echo that part of the international press had made of them – counted several cases of people saved by Bergoglio during the military dictatorship that ruled in Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

In academia, Guzmán has well-known and like-minded economists, such as his academic mentor and Nobel Prize in Economics. Joseph stiglitz, in addition to the famous Jeffrey Sachs, both professors from Columbia University.

Another prominent member is the current president of the Italian Council of Ministers, Mario Draghi, for many years president of the European Central Bank and, according to the chronicles of recent months, the most effective head of the Italian government in the last decade.

An old member of the Academy is Stefano Zamagni, who for a long time presided over it and is a professor at the University of Bologna, from which he was projected to give courses at the Institute of the Foreign Service of the Nation (ISEN), of the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

Among the recent publications of the Academy are “Nation, State, Nation State”, “Towards a participatory society, new paths for social and cultural integration” and “Inclusive Solidarity and integration of marginalized people”, in all cases compilations of events and meetings of the Academy, which also integrates another member of the government of Alberto Fernandez, the secretary of Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Béliz.

The incorporation of Guzmán to the Academy probably also produces a personal impression on Kristalina Georgieva, the director of the Fund, who met Guzmán precisely at an event in 2020, at the request of Francisco.

Social Sciences and Hard Sciences

The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has in turn links with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (simply), born out of the “Accademia dei Lincei”, founded in 1603 by the Vatican executive secretariat and one of the first scientific Cenacles in history.

Believers and non-believers of notable scientific pedigree also intersect there, such as the president of the body, the German Joachim von braun, food and nutrition specialist. The Academy had and also has several Nobel Prize winners in Science, such as David Baltimore (Nobel of Medicine 1975), Werner Arber (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1978), the French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 and Scientific Director of the Max Planck Institute in Berlin), in addition to the Brazilian physicist and materials engineer Vanderle bagnato, the English botanist, virologist and geneticist David baulcombe, the also English Helen Blau, specialist in stem cells and regenerative medicine, the American geneticist Francis Collins, one of the “fathers” of the unveiling of the structure of DNA, Italian physics Fabiola Gianotti, director of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, and the French Stanislas Dehaene, world authority on cognitive psychology issues and author of several popular books translated into Spanish and disseminated in Argentina

Among Argentines, the physicist stands out Juan Maldacena, from the Center for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and the mathematician Luis Angel Caffarelli.

Francisco’s gesture is undoubtedly a great papal, scientific and political accolade to Guzmán, for the extremely complicated task that lies ahead. Among them, tame the colt of inflation, avoid internal tricks and restructure USD 43.2 billion of debt with the International Monetary Fund.

KEEP READING: