May 2026

Pope Leo's Magnifica Humanitas - May Day - Palestine YCS chaplain expelled - First PhD thesis on International YCW - Cardijn on Catholic Social Doctrine

May 29, 2026

Welcome to our May newsletter in which we feature Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.

Significantly, he chose to sign the document on 15 May, the anniversary of his predecessor Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which so influenced Cardijn and the first generation of Specialised Catholic Action and lay apostolate leaders.

In this spirit, Stefan Gigacz recalls Cardijn’s own reflections on the importance of Catholic Social Doctrine.

We also highlight the International YCW’s statement on May Day, calling for attention to the issues facing so many young workers today while in the above photo YCW leaders from Japan and the Philippines held an exchange earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Belgian researcher Sam Kuijken has successfully defended the first doctoral thesis that deals with the rise of the International YCW from 1945-57.

And we report that Palestine YCS chaplain, Fr Louis Salman, a Jordanian priest, has been expelled from Israel, and express our solidarity with him.

Sadly, we note also the death of Polish bishop, Mgr Jozef Michalik, who played a key role in the founding of World Youth Day.

We conclude with a Pentecost Gospel reflection by Paul Lentern and a series of social media posts in which we remember a young YCW leader from Haiti tragically killed by in a robbery.

The Centre International Cardijn Team

Humanitas Magnifica: Pope Leo’s new encyclical

On 25 May 2026, Pope Leo released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, addressing issues facing the world “in the time of artificial intelligence.”

“Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together,” he wrote, warning of the risks of untamed AI.

“Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed” in order to serve humanity Pope Leo wrote, contrasting the positive benefits AI can bring with the dangers it also entails.

READ AND STUDY THE ENCYCLICAL

Magnifica Humanitas (Australian Cardijn Institute website)

May Day: Young people raise their voices

“On this May 1st, International Workers’ Day, we, the young people of the International Young Christian Workers (IYCW/JOCI), raise our voices together across the world,” an IYCW statement says.

We speak from our concrete realities — from factories and homes, from streets and digital platforms, from rural communities and urban neighbourhoods. We are part of a living history of more than a century of struggle, where generations of young workers have organized not only to defend the dignity of work, but to transform society through solidarity, collective action, and hope.

Today, we face a global system that continues to place profit before people. Wars, economic instability, forced migration, and the climate crisis are not abstract issues — they are daily realities shaping our lives. Millions of young people are trapped in unemployment, informal work, and exploitation.

Young Workers Rise: A Global Call for Dignity, Justice, and Dignified Work (IYCW)

Palestine YCS chaplain expelled by Israel

Father Louis Salman, a Jordanian priest who served as parish priest in Beit Sahour, a majority Palestinian Christian town near Bethlehem and was also chaplain for the Palestinian Christian youth movement, including the Young Catholic Students (YCS), has been forced to leave the country, Independent Catholic News reports.

Following an unusually long and intensive security interrogation by Israeli authorities, Israel refused to renew his visa and ordered him to leave before 11 May.

In a poignant farewell, Father Louis presided over his final Mass in Beit Sahour - the ‘Shepherd’s Field’ - on Sunday.

Father Louis is considered one of the most influential figures among Palestinian Christian youth.

Israel forces much-loved Catholic priest to leave Palestine (Independent Catholic News)

Louis Salman (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)

PhD: The International YCW and the rise of International Catholic Organizations

Sam Kuijken’s dissertation at KU Leuven reconstructs the history of Catholic internationalism through one of its most dynamic and contentious embodiments: the Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne internationale.

It builds on existing scholarship while challenging prevailing assumptions about the motivations, geography, and chronology of Catholic international engagement. Rather than treating Catholic internationalism as a derivative of anti‑communism or Cold War politics, the study uses it as a lens to reassess these familiar narratives.

The dissertation also advances a deliberately decentered approach, counterbalancing the European focus of institutional histories by integrating Asian, African, and Latin American experiences.

Crafting Catholic Internationalism: The Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne and the Rise of International Catholic Organizations (1920-1960) (KU Leuven, Research)

PHOTO

Natalia Núñez-Bargueño (Facebook)

Cardijn and Catholic Social Doctrine

As he often recalled, Cardijn’s first encounter with what we now call Catholic Social Teaching came when, as a nine year old boy, he was asked by his illiterate father to read him Pope Leo XIII’s foundational 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, writes Stefan Gigacz.

When, after being ordained in 1906, he was finally posted to the parish of Notre Dame at Laeken in 1912, Cardijn encouraged the study of Catholic Social Teaching by leaders from the very beginning.

Cardijn and Catholic Social Doctrine (Cardijn Research)

Formation in Catholic Social Doctrine (Cardijn Research)

Jozef Michalik, architect of World Youth Day

As the first head of the Youth Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity (PCL) during the mid-1980s, Jozef Michalik, the future archbishop of Przemsyl in south-western Poland, became one of the main architects of the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day events, writes Stefan Gigacz.

Archbishop Michalik, who died on 3 May 2026, is best known in recent times for his significant role in the Polish Catholic Church as the vice-president and president of that country’s Bishops Conference.

Jozef Michalik, architect of World Youth Day (Cardijn Research)

Gospel: Fear and joy

The appearance of the risen Jesus among them is a transformative moment for the disciples. The text tells us that they ‘were filled with joy’ (Jn 20:20). Immediately after, following his second greeting of peace, Jesus bestows the Spirit on the disciples and commissions them with the gift of forgiveness.

The transformation from a state of fear to one of joy and from a disposition of paralysis to one of mission are profound indicators of the Spirit at work in the lives of the disciples. It is a very pertinent reminder, to today’s disciples, on this Feast of Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit can transform human experience from fear to joy and can impel individuals and communities to act, in the name of God’s Kingdom.

Gospel Enquiry: Fear and Joy (Cardijn Reflections)