Kishore Jayabalan, director of the Acton Institute's offices in Rome, talks about the attempts to re-start the stalled Doha Round of WTO talks, and the importance to the developing world of access to free foreign markets, especially in regard the agriculture and manufacturing industries.

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Rev. Robert Sirico: In 1990, I had no idea who the elegant man, waiting patiently next to me in line to check out of our hotel in Antigua, Guatemala was. He turned his kindly glance in my direction and said, "Father, I deeply appreciated your speech at the conference yesterday. It is a relatively rare experience to meet a clergyman who understands economics." Read More »

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Presidential candidate Barack Obama has recently announced plans to continue and expand the faith-based initiative started during the Bush administration. In a piece for National Review Online, Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, discusses the temptations faced by private charities that are offered government funding. "Charities with a religious mission shouldn't be getting mixed up in all that bureaucracy, all those regulations, and all those rules concerning their own internal management. Nor should they become dependent on taxpayers. Doing so skews the institutional mission of the charity," he writes. Read Rev. Sirico on National Review Online

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Dr. Jay Richards, Acton's Director of Media, joins host Frank Pastore on KKLA in Los Angeles to discuss the recent proposal by some Democrat members of Congress to nationalize the US domestic oil industry in response to this year's spike in gasoline prices. Richards addresses the idea that such a move would decrease prices, arguing that it would be more likely to increase prices and lead to shortages. Richards and Pastore also talk about Jim Wallis' argument that Christians need to de-emphasize social issues like abortion and place more emphasis on issues such as poverty, global warming, and the like.

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After 50 years of foreign aid, many impoverished countries aren’t any better off. Go to the new Acton Impact page for resources on poverty and to download the new Acton print ad that is running this month in Christianity Today.

Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, joins host Carl Zylstra to discuss the role of religious belief in the public square of society. How are believers to put their faith in action in political and policy discussions without being simply co-opted by various political interests? How has Pope Benedict XVI engaged with society? What was the role of faith in the life of William F. Buckley? These and other issues are discussed in this 48 minute interview.

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Registrations are now being accepted for the Toward a Free and Virtuous Society Conference in Sonntagberg, Austria. This conference is hosted by the Europa Institut, Acton's Austrian affiliate and will feature presentations by both Acton veterans, including Dr. Samuel Gregg and Mr. Michael Miller, and European leaders in free-market economics and religion.

By combining an in-depth treatment of economic principles of social justice and anthropology, these conferences introduce participants to the moral foundations of personal and economic liberty. In addition, these seminars focus on applying economic liberty to complex issues such as poverty, welfare reform and globalization.

Although conference participants come from various backgrounds and countries, all share a commitment to Christian anthropology and a respect for the rights of individuals.

A Mass was held in Rome yesterday commemorating the death of Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, one of the Church’s staunchest defenders of the family and the inestimable value of human life from the moment of conception.

In his homily at the Mass, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re remembered Trujillo as “a pastor with great personality and firm decisions,†which were sometimes criticized and opposed. “Nonetheless, one cannot deny the uprightness and great inspiration that formed the basis of his dynamism†and that made him “a true man of the Church during his entire ministry, desirous only of promoting the good,†especially with regards to the defense of the family, “which today is under threat.â€

Read more about Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo.