Long term goal of the foundation
Our long term goal is to make the positions of the Catholic Church more understandable to third parties and more visible in the open debate held within the United Nations system. We wish thus to increase the impact of those positions upon the elaboration of international culture and law.
- • 'More understandable'. Because the Catholic positions, however valuable they may be, are frequently poorly expressed and readily misunderstood.
- We shall work to make them simpler to communicate. We shall explain what we think on the presupposition that others may not share our tradition of thought.
- • 'More visible'. Because Catholic positions are often not deemed relevant to the public debate. Secularised politics within the United Nations system make it difficult for faith communities to express the best reasons they have for doing what they do.
- We shall work to give Catholic positions an edge in public debate, i.e. to make them relevant and vital to public debate.
- • 'To increase their impact'. Because often Catholic positions lack the specificity needed to have a real impact on international negotiations.
- We shall work to enable professional preparation of the Catholic negotiation positions at the United Nations. We shall also seek new ideas so as to give the Catholic representatives the possibility to lead international negotiations in some sectors.
How we act
We identify three different levels of action:
- • The short term, micro-level of day-to-day negotiation and advocacy at the UN in Geneva.
- Catholic representatives need high quality information and counsel on specific items under negotiation at the UN. We seek out and bring it to them, often on short notice, in the form of bullet points reports.
- • The long term, macro-level of emerging international topics.
- The international scene is transforming rapidly, transposing old questions to new arenas and raising issues that may have seemed inconceivable only a short time ago. The foundation asks leading academic research centres to examine the topics from the perspective of the Catholic Church, trying to identify possible ways forward on these new issues. The Working Papers of the Foundation then publish these long term reports.
- • The systemic level of communication on the work of the Church.
- The extensive social service provided by Catholic-inspired institutions around the globe are often ignored by international media or deemed as irrelevant to international affairs. The foundation wants to give voice and relevance to this service; it wants to make their importance known and recognised as such at the UN.