The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace will publish a "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church" on October 25, the opening day of its annual plenary session, announced Cardinal Renato Martino today in an address to participants of the 44th Social Week of Italian Catholics in Bologna.

The cardinal referred to the theme of the Social Week, "Democracy: New Scenarios, New Powers," and underscored how "the vision of the human person as treated in the social Magisterium of the Church has, among other things, the merit of indicating the limits of that individualistic concept which has been the matrix of several of the most serious degenerations of the democratic ideal."

"Safeguarding the values of democracy occurs through caring for the weakest in every corner of the earth and by supporting policies attentive to the rights not just of single persons but also of peoples, respected in their history, their traditions, their customs," said Cardinal Martino.