CAPP-Fordham Conference

CAPP Fordham Conference

The biennial CAPP-Fordham Conferences bring together international specialists, authorities and professionals who highlight issues of poverty and development raised by Pope Francis. The conferences, attended by a large and varied group of Catholic and non-Catholic experts, seek to address these issues through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching.

"Fondazione Centesimus Annus - Pro Pontifice" or CAPP was established by Pope John Paul II on 13 June 1993 along with lay Catholic business, academic and professional leaders. The Foundation is a lay-led non-profit-organization with the purpose of promoting the Catholic social teaching. It is headquartered in the Vatican.


The next conference will happen during UN Week in September 2020.

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  • 2018 Conference:

    “Reduce Hunger: Pope Francis' Call for New Approaches", Sept 28, 2016

    Pope Francis issued a challenge in his 2017 World Food Day address at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where he encouraged a "broad and sincere dialogue...to find new ways...the best solutions...to confront hunger and structural poverty in a more effective and promising way."

    Responding to this challenge, CAPP-USA and Fordham University's Graduate Program in International Political Economy and Development hosted world experts at a conference with the challenge to identify "concrete actions" to "reduce the number of those going hungry...to guarantee to all human beings the right to be nourished."

    Conference Sessions

    Pope Francis’ Perspective on Food Insecurity – Calling for New Approaches by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations

    Meeting the Global Food Security Challenges of the 21st Century by Prof. Christopher B. Barrett, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, International Professor of Agriculture, Cornell University

    The Right to Food in the United States: The Role of SNAP by Prof. Craig Gundersen, Soybean Industry Endowed Professor in Agricultural Strategy, University of Illinois    

    Replicating Successful National Programmes to Reduce Hunger by Dr. Daniel Gustafson, Deputy Director-General (Programmes), UN Food and Agricultural Organization

    Access to GMO’s – A Moral Imperative? by Dr. Sarah Davidson Evanega, Director, Cornell Alliance for Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University

    New Approaches to International Food Security: On-the-ground Perspectives by Mr. Bill O’Keefe, Vice President, Government Relations and Advocacy, Catholic Relief Services

    Learn about our 2018 program. A full report of the conference will be available soon.

  • 2016 Conference:

    “Pope Francis’ Call for Escaping Poverty: Practical Examples and New Proposals", Sept 22-23, 2016

    The CAPP-Fordham Conference examined the definition and measurement of poverty in order to propose specific, practical efforts which operationalize Pope Francis’ insistence that people “be dignified agents of their own destiny”, as articulated by the Holy Father at the United Nations in 2015.

    View a full report of the conference.

    Conference Sessions

    Pope Francis' Views on International Poverty and Development by Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Permanent Representative of the Holy to the United Nations.

    What is Poverty? by Prof. Sabina Alkire, Oxford University.

    Fordham's Pope Francis Poverty Index by Prof. Henry Schwalbenberg, Fordham University.

    Panel on Inclusive Finance and Entrepreneurial Responses: Domingo Sugranyes Bickel, CAPP; Josef Bonnici, Bank of Malta; Robert Annibale, Citi Inclusive Finance; and Eduardo Marques Almeida, Inter-American Development Bank.

    Panel on Violence and Poverty: Paolo Carozza, University of Notre Dame; Nicolas Michel, UN Negotiating Team on Syria, Melissa Labonte, Fordham University, and Amando Borja, Jesuit Refugee Services/USA.

    Learn about our 2016 program.

  • 2014 Conference:

    “Poverty and Development: A Catholic Perspective", Sept 26-27, 2016

    The CAPP-Fordham Conference brought together international authorities and professionals who highlighted poverty and development issues raised by His Holiness, Pope Francis, to address their implications and suggest specific responses and remedies.

    View a full report of the conference.

    Conference Sessions

    Issues of immediate relief, lasting development and the need for solidarity by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, C.S.

    Responding to immediate emergencies by Theodore Cardinal McCarrick

    Obligation to Intervene by General Roméo Dallaire

    Relief/development efforts by Chibly Cardinal Langlois

    Responses to Humanitarian Crisis by Metropolitan Jean Clément Jeanbart

    Immigration: Overcoming its negative effects and maximizing its positive influence by Reverend Richard Ryscavage, S.J.

    Just and lasting solutions:Structural Issues by Professor Paolo G. Carozza

    Just and lasting solutions: Insights of economists by Dr. Henry Schwalbenberg

    What is radical Solidarity? by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli

    Learn about our 2014 program.