Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Cardinal Dr. Michael Czerny, S.J. - Justice, Peace, Health, And Care For All Marginalized People
The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (https://www.humandevelopment.va/it.html) was established at the Vatican, by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, in 2016, and deals with a range of issues concerning migrants, refugees and victims of slave trade, human trafficking, justice and peace, the progress of peoples, the promotion and protection of dignity and human rights, disarmament and armed conflicts, as well as their tragic consequences on civilians and the natural environment. Since 1st of January 2017, the Dicastery has been created merging the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. The Dicastery includes the Commission for Charity, the Commission for Ecology and the Commission for Health Care Workers, each operating according to its norms. Cardinal Dr. Michael Czerny, S.J. serves as Under-Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Cardinal Dr. Czerny entered the Society of Jesus in English Canada in 1963, and was ordained in 1973. He did graduate studies at the University of Chicago in an inter-disciplinary program in humanities, social thought and theology and earned the doctorate in 1978. Dr. Czerny was the founding director of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, Toronto (1979 – 1989). After the 1989 assassination of the Jesuits at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador, he became Director of its Human Rights Institute (1990 – 1991) and Vice-Rector of the UCA (1991). For 11 years Dr. Czerny served as Secretary for Social Justice at the Jesuit General Curia, Rome (1992 – 2002). In 2002, he founded the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN), which assists Jesuits to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic; he directed AJAN for 8 years. From 2010-2016, Fr. Czerny worked with Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as his advisor or counselor. From 1 January 2017 he has served as Under-Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. On October 4, 2019, Fr. Czerny was consecrated titular archbishop of Benevento by Pope Francis, who on October 5 created him cardinal deacon of St. Michael the Archangel.