2026 Lyon Annual Seminar (UCLy) – Person and Common Good

The 2026 Annual Seminar took place on 7-10 September in Lyon, hosted by the Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy), under the umbrella title “Person and Common Good. How can Social Catholicism Renew Contemporary Humanism?”.

Contemporary humanism is confronted today with epochal challenges: globalization, social fragmentation, ecological crisis, and technological transformations that affect our very understanding of the human person. In this context, the Catholic Church’s social doctrine constitutes a highly relevant theoretical and practical resource, grounded in the centrality of human dignity and the principle of the common good. The contributions of the Lyon school of social Catholicism—particularly the thought of Joseph Vialatoux and Jean Lacroix—provide valuable tools for rethinking the relationship between the individual and the community, emphasizing cooperation as an alternative to the logic of domination. Their reflections on social democracy and collective responsibility prove especially fruitful for addressing the tensions between individual freedom and social justice, which are today exacerbated by global economic and technological dynamics. The seminar aims to examine the possibility of an integral humanism capable of combining historical rootedness with innovative openness, in order to respond to contemporary challenges: ecological transition, social inclusion, and the ethical regulation of technology. What categories and practices might emerge from this dialogue between tradition and modernity?

Download here the program.