Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Pope Benedict Greets Acton Institute
Pope Benedict Greets Acton Institute
Mar 14, 2026 5:51 PM

Pope Benedict XVI warmly greeted a group of 23 Acton Institute staff and supporters on pilgrimage at his Castel Gandolfo summer palace this past Sunday, September 18.

During the traditional Sunday Angelus audience inside the papal summer palace courtyard, Benedict delivered an inspiring talk on Christ’s parable of the workers in the vineyard — a most appropriate Christian teaching upon which the Acton Institute often reflects and articulates during its economics seminars to religious students and business professionals throughout the world.

The Holy Father said:

I offer a warm e to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at this Angelus prayer, including those from the Acton Institute … In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear pare the Kingdom of Heaven to the actions of a landowner who is generous to all the workers in his vineyard. Perhaps at times we may feel envious of the success of others or feel that we have not been sufficiently thanked for our service. May we always strive to be humble servants of the Lord and rejoice when God bestows abundant graces on those around us. I wish you a good Sunday. May God bless all of you!

If you want to see a recorded video of the audience, click below:

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Fr. Michael Butler: Orthodoxy and Natural Law
Today at Acton University, Fr. Michael Butler gave an engaging lecture on the subject of Orthodoxy and natural law. Despite the contemporary ambivalence among many Orthodox (if not hostility) toward natural law, Fr. Michael argues that it is present in the Eastern Tradition from the ancient to the medieval and modern periods, focusing especially on the thought of the seventh century Byzantine Saint Maximus the Confessor. A few months ago, I observed, While it may be that there are important...
What Can Save Chicago?
Chicago is in serious trouble. There has been a rash of crime over the past few weeks that has brought attention, yet again, to a city that cannot seem to make much progress. The Chicago Tribune reported the following about how out of control the city was this past Father’s Day: At least 34 people were shot — nine of them fatally — Saturday afternoon through Father’s Day Sunday, stretching from 94th Street and Loomis Avenue on the South Side...
Scott Rae on How Business Serves the Common Good
In a lecture at Acton University titled “Business and the Common Good,” Dr. Scott Rae of Biola University examined the role of business in serving mon good. Rae began by examining some of mon criticisms lobbed against business, namely, that it promotes greed, inequality, and consumerism. As Michael Miller often notes, these are human vices, not economic ones, and thus business, properly understood, is not immoral in and of itself. On the contrary, business has great potential for serving and...
Follow Acton University on Twitter
Acton University is happening all week, so if you’d like to read what our attendees are up to, follow the #ActonU hashtag on Twitter. You can bookmark the feed and check back later, or search for the #ActonU hashtag on one of the various Twitter apps for Apple, Android, Windows Phone, or Blackberry. If you’re at the event, use the tag to let others know what you’re learning! Click here to view #ActonU on Twitter. ...
‘No Religion, Please. We’re European.’
It is no secret that Europe is ing less and less religious. A 2010 survey stated that only about half of Europe’s citizens believed in God, with some places (such as Sweden and the Czech Republic) registering belief in only about 20 percent of the population. And it’s not just that less people believe; it’s that there is growing hostility to religion in the EU. Take for example Slovakia. The National Bank of Slovakia has ordered the removal of religious...
Sweden’s Riots, ‘Good Socialism,’ and the Importance of Earned Success
Over at theValues & Capitalism blog, I recently shared some of the more memorable quotes from P.J. O’Rourke’s remarkable chapter on Sweden in his 1999 book, Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics. What’s most notable about O’Rourke’s analysis is that it largely avoids the typical arguments about whether the Swedish system “works” — whether mouths are fed, entitlements are sustainable, healthcare is accessible, etc. — pondering, instead, what kind of spirit bubbles beneath its shiny skin: Even O’Rourke is...
Fr. Michael Butler: Orthodoxy, Church, and State
The double-headed eagle is a historical symbol of symphonia. Today at Acton University, Fr. Michael Butler examined the history of Church-State relations in the Orthodox Tradition with special reference to the modern, Russian context in his lecture “Orthodoxy, Church, and State.” The audio of his lecture will be available via Ancient Faith Radio sometime in ing weeks. As a teaser, I would like to briefly examine two concepts of Orthodox political theory to which Fr. Butler devoted specific attention: symphonia...
Sponsor a Child, Change the World
There are over 8 million internationally sponsored children in the world. With the average monthly sponsorship level set at about $30 (not including other gifts sent to sponsored children), the flow of resources from wealthy countries to poor countries from international child sponsorships is about $3.2 billion per year. Despite the substantial amounts of money being funneled through these child-sponsorship charities, few empirical studies have been conducted to gauge their effectiveness. Earlier this yearpeer-reviewed, independent studyon the viability of international...
Video: Marina Nemat’s Keynote Address at Acton University 2013
Marina Nemat gave her keynote address last night at AU entitled, “Finding Christ in an Iranian Prison.” Watch below. ...
Edd Noell: Early Christians on Wealth and Poverty
This morning at Acton University I attended a fascinating lecture by Dr. Edd Noell, “Origins of Economics: The Scriptures and Early Church Fathers.” I have briefly examined one ancient Christian perspective on wealth in the past (here), but Dr. Noell’s survey today was far more expansive. For the benefit of PowerBlog readers, I would like to reflect on some of the major themes of his talk here as a sort of preview of what one could expect once the audio...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved