After the appointment of the Minister of Economy, Martin Guzman, by the Pope Francisco as a new ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PACS), interest grows on this select group that has its origins in 1600, housed various Nobel Prizes and today it has among its ranks three Argentines.
As described the PACS on its website, this select organization has its roots in the Academy of Lynxes (Accademia dei Lincei), founded in Rome in 1603 as “the first exclusively scientific academy in the world”.
Its origin
Later, Pope Pius XI renewed and reconstituted the academy in 1936. However, it was John paul ii who in 1994 established the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which are made up of pontifical academics, no less than 20 and no more than 40 men and women, that “they adequately represent the various disciplines of the social sciences in the various geographical regions ”of the world.
According to article 3 of the statutes of the body approved by John Paul II on June 26, 2003, “Academics are appointed by the Holy Father based on their competencies in the social sciences and their moral integrity”.
Guzmán’s appointment
In this way, in clear support for the Minister of Economy, Francisco today appointed Guzmán as an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences of the Vatican.
Academics are appointed for 10 years and can be reappointed. According to the statutes, members are elected by their high level of competition in one of the various social disciplines.
Guzmán, from 39 years, has a degree in Economics from the National University of La Plata, a doctorate from Brown University, United States, and a post-doctorate from Columbia University, also from the United States.
On April 14 of this year, the minister met with Francis for 45 minutes in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. During the meeting, both discussed the debt situation that the country must face with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with the Paris Club, amid strong requests from the Pope for international organizations to advance in a “significant reduction of the debt” of the most impoverished countries, as reported at the time.
Argentines in the PACS
With the appointment of Guzmán, there are already three Argentines who make up the academy. Last year Pope Francis appointed the government’s secretary for Strategic Affairs as an ordinary member, Gustavo Beliz. On the other hand, the chancellor of this organization is the Argentine Archbishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo.
Among the members of the Pontifical Academy appointed by Francis are also the current Italian premier Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, and the Minister of Justice of Italy, Marta Cartabia.
Likewise, other members of the illustrious academy include Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in Economics and Guzmán’s mentor, and the American economist Jeffrey Sachs. But Stigliz is not the only Nobel laureate within the prestigious academy: many of its members were appointed academics before receiving this international award.
What do you work on
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is international in scope, multiracial in its composition, and non-sectarian in the election of its members. His work includes six large areas: basic sciences, science and technology of global problems, science of the problems of the developing world, science policy, bioethics and epistemology.
The group aims promote the study and progress of the social, economic, political and legal sciences, offering the Church the elements that it can use in the study and development of its social doctrine.
Who is part of it
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The select group of academics and Nobel laureates admitted by Martín Guzmán by decision of the Pope