Fondazione GRAVISSIMUM EDUCATIONIS
Fondazione GRAVISSIMUM EDUCATIONIS “Democracy, an educational urgency »”
Based on the observation that democratic thinking and the political-institutional forms of democracy arose in a time and contexts that no longer exist and that the modern democracies are called to deal theoretically with this distance and, from a practical point of view, to reorganize themselves to reply to change, the Gravissimum Educationis Foundation decided to launch the educational project «Democracy: an educational urgency in pluricultural and plurireligious contexts».
History
On October 28, 2015, Pope Francis founded the Gravissimum Educationis Foundation. The Foundation works in an educational context, supporting the integral education of the human person and fraternal coexistence on earth.
From a global perspective, attentive to the most difficult situations, the Foundation supports innovative and impactful projects, invests in quality, promotes scientific studies and fosters networking between educational institutions.
Mission
The “Democracy: an educational urgency in pluricultural and plurireligious contexts” project aims to start educational trainings capable of transforming democratic practices, informing them of the positive values of peace, solidarity and the common good. In this way, the project wants to support the harmonious co-existence of citizens with different religious faiths, ethical visions and traditions in pluralistic democratic social systems based on the mutual recognition of identities and related legitimate interests.
To achieve this, the project has some specific goals:
- organize an international group of experts, professors, Ph.D. students, and public or private entities, mass media agencies to promote an open debate on democracy;
- establish a democratic thought that cares of the principles and values of the social teaching of the Church, coordinated to the new educational challenges that are necessary to build democracy in our age of cultural and ethical-religious pluralism;
- promote educational training about democratic citizenship, for schools and universities (without excluding other social agents);
- publish guidelines for educators, for the education to democracy of the youths.
The project is carried out simultaneously in 14 Universities in the world (the so-called Antennas), which in their context are carrying out two types of activities:
- cultural, through the meaning of democracy in various cultures;
- intellectual, through researches about the relation between education and democracy;
- educational, trough educational training about democratic citizenship.
The project plans Annual Seminars to share the progress of the projects and a final international Congress (2021). Also, intermediate and final publications will be produced, including guidelines for the teachers.
The project supported by The Caritas Pro Vitae Gradu Charitable Trust
The Caritas Pro Vitae Gradu Charitable Trust provides financial support to the «Democracy: an educational urgency in pluricultural and plurireligious contexts» project and in particularly for the following items:
- Central coordination of the scientific team during the years 2019 to 2021
- Management of the operations of the university branches during the years 2019 to 2021
- Preparation of seminars for 40 people for 2019 and 2020
- Preparation and coordination of the final congress to be held in the Vatican
- Communication and various publications costs