Seminar
FROM THE JFK’S NEW FRONTIER
TO POPE FRANCIS’S PERIPHERIES OF THE WORLD
November 23rd 2016
INTRODUCTION
Roberto Cauda, Director of the University Center for International solidarity
Magnificent Rector, seen authorities, colleagues, students, ladies and gentlemen, it is my
pleasure to introduce, the distinguished speaker of this evening, Dr. Andrea Galindo, from
the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, in Florence. Today, we celebrate the decennial of the
Center for International Solidarity of the Catholic University which started its activity in
2006.
I would like to briefly introduce the Center, outlining some of the specific goals which have
characterized the activity in the past years.
In particular, the Center has pursued the following goals:
 to improve the culture of solidarity in the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore;
 to promote specific projects in different areas of the word. These projects have the
common denominator of solidarity which does not mean only to provide know-how
to the local partners but also to establish educational programs in specific areas of the
world;
 to favour the development of projects which involve different cultural areas of the
University. I am glad to mention, as an example of this approach, the programs
implemented in cooperation with the Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) which
required agricultural, financial and medical expertise.
All these projects have been realized having as ultimate goal the promotion of solidarity.
The concept of solidarity is
quite different from that of Cooperation. Cooperation is
specific of the States and involves the partnership and involvement of national institutions.
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On the contrary, solidarity is something related more to individuals rather than to
institutions. Solidarity means a direct action to specific recipients rather than an impersonal
intervention. Therefore in a very general manner, we could define cooperation as an
institutional approach and solidarity a personal approach.
Pope Francis has, several times and in many ways, mentioned the importance of solidarity
in the present time. In Lampedusa, Pope Francis acknowledged the great solidarity of the
local people in helping and accepting the refugees.
A few minutes ago, I mentioned that the culture of solidarity is a priority of the Center and a
good example of this is the program developed in Afghanistan a few years ago which was
specifically directed to satisfy the needs of the local populations, especially women, and it
was focused on ameliorating education. The book which describes this successful
experience will be presented here in Milan in the presence of the Rector and H.E. the
Ambassador of Afghanistan in Italy and other authorities at the end of this month.
In line with this goal the Center, in cooperation with the Toniolo Institute and the Università
Cattolica, has promoted more than 200 scholarships of the UCSC. Charity Work Program
for students of different Faculties. These scholarships allowed the participating students to
be exposed to different cultures. The ultimate goal of the program was not only the personal
growth of those who participated. It was even more important that the program allowed the
beginning of a virtuous circle in order to increase and to spread the culture of solidarity in
the future ruling class of the Nations.
The success of the program has been impressive. Just to give you an idea of the interest of
our students there have been 5 candidates for 1 scholarship. So, we had to make a difficult
selection, all the time. The experiences of the students who participated to the program have
been summarized in the book “Testimonianze dalle periferie del mondo” which received an
extraordinary editorial success.
Having briefly described the mission of the Center, I move to the today presentation,
starting from the title. The title “From JFK new frontier to Pope Francis’ peripheries of the
world” summarizes the approach to cooperation/solidarity in the last six decades.
In fact the ‘60s is the decade when the dissolution of colonialism occurred in Africa and
Asia and the former colonies became independent States. This passage was not painless. In
Africa and in Asia many wars occurred: people moved from the countryside to the city
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creating the phenomenon of urbanization which was responsible of the megalopolis where
human rights were not respected and the old tradition vanished.
According to Jacques Pepin in his book “The origins of AIDS” the war which followed the
end of colonialism, the urbanization, the loss of traditional rules, the absence of respect of
human rights were probably responsible of the origin and spread of AIDS initially in Congo
and subsequently in other African countries.
Probably, the first one that with an high political authority indicated a different behavior
toward the countries with limited resources former colonies was J. F. Kennedy. In fact, the
presidential candidate in his acceptance speech as candidate in 1960 mentioned for the first
time the concept of the “New frontier”, as a challenge for his fellow American citizens. As a
consequence of this idea, the program “Alliance for Progress” was developed and
implemented in the following years. Notably, several US Universities took part to this
program, and this was the first example of an involvement of Academic Institutions to a
cooperative project.
In 1967 the Blessed Pope Paul VI in his Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, in a
prophetic way, urges the Catholics (and not only them) to develop cooperative programs to
help the people of the former colonies. The Holy Father Paul VI, for the first time, indicated
the need of solidarity in order to ensure peace to the world.
The cooperation from the ‘60s, when initially started, continued in the following decades
having different focuses, not always good. It was a sort of yo-yo in which real cooperation
was mixed with political alliances and corruption. Nowadays cooperation and solidarity
have been interpreted by Pope Francis in a new and innovative way. His High Teaching has
indicated in the word “Peripheries” the edge not only geographical but also spiritual and
cultural where solidarity should be activated. This is a continuous challenge which involves
all individuals and us, as Università Cattolica. The answer which we can give to this request
of solidarity coming from the world is to implement our educational tools in order to fulfill
the needs of different partners in difficult areas of the world.
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