The Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral and Human Promotion is celebrating in Seville, from November 25 to 27, the XLIII Social Week of Spain, under the title The regeneration of public life. A call for the common good and participation.
As Jesús Avezuela, president of the Social Weeks of Spain, points out to Omnes, "the celebration of the Social Weeks of this year 2021 have a special importance after a process of revitalization of this institution.".
The Seville meeting is also preceded, for the first time, "by the work of a series of debates and deliberation forums in various dioceses throughout the Spanish geography during the whole of 2021".
The next Social Week, which takes the baton from the last one held in Orihuela-Alicante in 2015, will begin on November 25 with the inaugural session attended by the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain, Bishop Bernardito Auza; the Archbishop of Seville, Archbishop José Ángel Saiz Meneses, Jesús Avezuela himself; and the Mayor of Seville, as well as the Secretary General of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Bishop Luis Argüello, in charge of the inaugural address.
Friday will be the working day for the participating dioceses through working groups, while on Saturday two round tables are scheduled: A policy perspective y A view from business and the social sector moderated by journalists Diego García Cabello and Juan Carlos Blanco Cruz, respectively.
Saturday's program also includes the presentation of the conclusions before the final act, which will be attended by the Archbishop of Seville and the President of the Junta de Andalucía.
Avezuela also emphasizes the importance of this meeting for the Social Weeks and considers that "it is a very opportune moment, within the path undertaken by the Episcopal Conference for the coming years, to renew these initiatives of meeting and social and cultural dialogue by putting together the very different approaches of the deliberation forums of the various working groups of experts in political, economic and socio-cultural issues of the dioceses that are very varied among themselves but that share this search for the common good".
What are Social Weeks?
The so-called "Social Weeks" are based on the encyclical "Social Weeks". Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII. It will be in Lyon, in 1904 when the first Social Weeks with this name and with the aim of bringing together representatives of different religious, social, political and economic organizations. The Social Weeks of Spain, whose organization dates back to 1906, are a service of the Spanish Episcopal Conference for the study, dissemination and application of the Social Doctrine of the Church to relevant and current social issues.
