Jubilee of Workers 2025

On the occasion of the Jubilee of Workers, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) is sponsoring the event “World of Work, Place of Hope,” which will take place on Friday, May 2, at the Augustinianum Auditorium in Rome and will be transmitted live via streaming on the YouTube channels VaticanIHD and Vatican Media, with simultaneous translation into Italian, English, French and Spanish.

The meeting “World of Work, Place of Hope” is a moment of reflection, dialogue and proposals on the challenges and hopes currently facing the world of work, both globally and in Italy. It brings together experts, trade unionists, representatives of international institutions and of the ecclesial sphere.

The event is organized by the Italian Christian Workers' Associations (ACLI), together with the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), the magazine Aggiornamenti Sociali, The Future of Work Labour after Laudato Si (FOWLS), and is sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and the National Office for Social Problems and Labor of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI).

The first part, entitled “Challenges and Hopes in the World of Work. The International Perspective”, features interventions by Sister Alessandra Smerilli, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Monsignor Robert J. Vitillo, Senior Advisor of the same Dicastery, and Pierre Martinot-Lagarde of the International Labor Organization.

Topics addressed in the first panel include care and work, migration, extractive industries, and artificial intelligence. Speakers include Paolo Foglizzo of Aggiornamenti Sociali, Davide Bernocchi, Secretary General of ICMC, Peter Warrian of the University of Toronto, Janine Berg of the ILO, and Mariangela Perito of the ACLI Women’s Coordination. The session will conclude with reflections by Fr. Giacomo Costa SJ, Spiritual Advisor of ACLI.

The second part dealt with the Italian perspective in which the presidents of Acli and of three Italian syndicates intervened. Finally, concluding remarks were given by Fr. Bruno Bignami, Director of the National Office for Social Problems and Labor of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

While the interventions were taking place, the artist Maupal created a work dedicated to Pope Francis and his legacy in the field of decent work.

On the occasion of the Jubilee of Workers, the Canadian philosopher and jurist Jennifer Nedelsky, known for having developed a relational approach to law and autonomy, with particular attention to the valorization of care work and the restructuring of the relationship between paid work and care in contemporary society, was received at the Dicastery on April 30.

At the end of her intervention, there was a moment of dialogue with the professor and the officers of the Dicastery present.