A day at UCAV to present the Family Global Compact

Last 18 March, in celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the Berit Institute for the Family, an afternoon at the Catholic University of Avila (UCAV) was organised for the presentation of the Family Global Compact (FGC). Launched by Pope Francis in May 2023, the FGC is a worldwide agreement which promotes an alliance between the Family Centres of Catholic Universities across the five continents and the pastoral family work undertaken by the Bishops’ Conferences and dioceses.

UCAV among the 40 academic institutions that have joined the Family Global Compact

The UCAV is among the 40 academic institutions that have adhered to the Compact and are part of REDIUF, the worldwide network of Institutes and Centres for the Family, coordinated by the Dicastery and committed to promoting a vast range of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary initiatives. The network aims to develop a Christian perspective of the family within culture and all contexts of civil society in which it is foundational and influential: economics, law, human and experimental sciences, politics.

Gambino: Concrete action points and opportunities for a network of academic work on the family

Following the welcome address by Dr Lydia Jiménez, the Director of the UCAV Governing Council, the report by Prof. Gabriella Gambino was introduced by Prof. Luis Carlo García, the Director of the Berit Institute for the Family. The Under-Secretary then proceeded to offer a broad overview of the opportunities that arise from a network of academic work on such a fragmented topic, that is, today’s view of family.

Taking the structure and text of the FGC as a starting point, the Under-Secretary proposed concrete action points for academic research and teaching, and called for the establishment of new Centres dedicated to family studies in Catholic universities where they are yet to exist.

Finally, she emphasised the importance for family-related topics to be studied in depth in economic, legal and social spheres via an approach based on Christian anthropology.

Prof. María del Rosario Sáez Yuguero, the Rector of the UCAV, and His Excellency Jesús Rico García, the Bishop of Avila, who were also in attendance, showed great interest in the prospect of a fruitful collaboration between university studies and the pastoral family ministry of the local Church.