My research topic comes from a personal interest and passion in studying religious phenomenon both from a philosophical view, and from a sociological one. I have approached religion/society topics for a long time. Being catholic from Italy, where the Vatican Holy See is a relevant voice within society, I have always seen the dialogue among forces (religion, State, economy and society) as a natural, good and inescapable way for facing and solving all problems, especially those concerning the enormous global inequality in the distribution of wealth. Therefore, my view reflects an optimistic, yet realistic, comprehension of our contemporary society from different perspectives.

In the specific context of my actual research as a Ph.D. candidate at Leiden University, I focus on the Social Doctrine of the Church, together with a strong interest toward the social teaching of Pope Benedict XVI, particularly his last social encyclical Caritas in veritate.

In this way, I see the opportunity of having exemplified, if I may say so, that relationship between a religious authority developing a doctrine on social and economic issues, and eventually see how such proposal can be received, rejected or partially included in the concrete economic world.

What concretely I try to enlighten and examine is that Catholic social thought does not come as a compromise, or as a mixture, between other main socio-economical ideologies or doctrines, such as Capitalism or Socialism. This is due mainly to the foundational basis of social thought that are in the Gospel, giving to the same doctrine that character of genuineness which, I believe, is an explicit trait. In other words, I would suggest that Catholic social thought can be seen as a stand-alone doctrine, effective in proposing ways for organizing the socio-economic aspects of human life. Then, Gospel principles, while there, need to be actualized. It is about an interpretation of the Gospel’s principles for the global and secular age. In doing this, I try to adhere not only to the principles themselves, but also to the main interpretation that main Catholic theological sources may offer.

Moreover, in presenting this work the exigency of facing parallel issues becomes unavoidable, such as communication among different science fields, like ethics and economics. About this, I share with social thought a possible framework in which economy is not only affected but it has exactly to be affected by religion, in order to not loose its ethical framework. The contemporary crisis, for example, is due, in my view, mainly to a lost ethic and moral judgment in the economic action, as business is business nothing matters but profit. But economy does not work for humankind in doing so, here we only see humankind working for an economic end; religion helps economy to be itself, in service of humankind, that is its true end.

Supervisors: Prof. dr. W. B. Drees and Prof. dr. M. T. ter Borg.

Email: r.puggioni@umail.leidenuniv.nl, roberto.puggioni1@gmail.com
Telephone: +31 0617295276, +39 3295718696