Italian
On the occasion of the International Conference of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, held in the New Aula of the Synod in the Vatican on the theme “A fragmented world in search of spirituality,” Giovanni Marseguerra, Professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, outlined the crucial role of spirituality in the face of the great transitions of our time.
VATICAN CITY. In a world undergoing profound and overlapping transitions, spirituality emerges as a necessary response rather than an escape from reality. This is the thesis that Giovanni Marseguerra, a professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, developed during his speech at the 2026 International Conference of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation.
“We live in a society, in a world that is undergoing a series of profound transformations, transitions that are overlapping with one another”, explained Professor Marseguerra, highlighting four major ongoing processes: the digital transition, the ecological transition, the demographic transition, and perhaps the most relevant today, the geopolitical transition.
In this context of increasing complexity, the main risk is that of isolation. “People feel lonely, people feel isolated – he emphasized – this creates a more individualistic world”. And it is precisely here that the spiritual dimension comes into play:
“Spirituality is certainly not a retreat into oneself, it is certainly not an escape from history. It is rather the rediscovery of responsibility, the rediscovery of leadership.”
A call to leadership that is directly linked to the recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. “We live in a time of great cultural and spiritual blindness – Marseguerra recalled, quoting the papal document – therefore, it is necessary to activate a process of communal discernment in search of the spiritual and cultural roots of these significant transformations.”
The Foundation addresses the issue on two levels. On a personal level, with attention to the new generations: young people who feel lonely, isolated, struggling even in their job search. On a global level, however, the central issue is a crisis in multilateralism.
