PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES TO HOLD PLENARY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 9, 2000 (VIS) - The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, instituted by the Holy Father in 1994, will hold its Sixth Plenary Assembly in the Vatican from February 23 to 26. Members and invited guests will continue to discuss the theme of democracy, studied for the first time in the 1996 plenary, and will focus in particular on the relationship between democracy and values and on possible strategies for affirming values in a democracy.

A communique released today by the Academy recalls that its statutes outline its duty as that "of promoting the study and progress of social sciences, in particular economy, sociology, law and political sciences. The Academy, thanks to an opportune dialogue, offers the Church useful elements for laying out her social doctrine and reflecting on the application of this doctrine in contemporary society."

The 2000 plenary, states the communique, "will again consider (the question of) democracy in a global world, the interactions that take place among national democracies, ... the relationship of national democracies with transnational, international and supranational powers and institutions, and, finally, the relationship between democratic and antidemocratic elements in transnational, international, and supranational milieux."

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