Cardinal Renato Martino at Fairfield University

Cardinal Renato Martino at Fairfield University

Image: Cardinal Renato During a visit to Fairfield University on Monday, Oct. 30, Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council on Migrants and Refugees, was introduced by his long-time friend, Rev. Richard Ryscavage, S.J., director of the Center for Faith and Public Life.

Cardinal Martino, who was responsible for creating a new compendium of Catholic Social Teaching which pulls together in one volume all the basic principles of the church's reflection on social issues, spoke about the importance of striving for the common good. He said consideration of the common good seems to have been removed from modern discussion of society and the economy when it is so needed by people living in poverty and developing countries. "The actions of a society attains full stature when it reaches the common good," he said, adding that the common good is the "social and community dimension of the moral good."

Cardinal Martino is Pope Benedict's main advisor on international issues of peace, human rights, social justices, immigration, refugees and asylum seekers. He is the former Vatican Ambassador to Thailand and to the United Nations in New York. He was an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq during the last years of Pope John Paul II.

Posted On: 10-31-2006 10:10 AM

Volume: 39 Number: 71