Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case of Religious Freedom, Conference in Rome, 29 April – 3 May 2011

29 April – 3 May 2011 – Rome

The Seventeenth Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was devoted to the topic Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case of Religious Freedom. A conference held in Rome from 29 April through 3 May 2011 was organized under the direction of Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University Law School and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. “Religious freedom claims the Academy’s attention not only because it is central to Catholic thought,” noted Professor Glendon, “but because the dilemmas and controversies in that area are illustrative of the current crisis of the entire human rights project.” The conference featured contributions of scholars from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and North and South America.