Humanity 2.0: Vatican hosts experts to discuss tenderness

VATICAN CITY — Close to 100 financiers, philanthropists, artists, tech experts, physicians, politicians and religious leaders spent more than an hour in a Vatican meeting room talking about tenderness. A project called "Humanity 2.0," supported by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, designed the daylong event April 20 to kick off a process of connecting people with different resources, but who all are committed to improving the lives of others.

During the meeting, the discussions moved from the concept of tenderness to ways tenderness becomes action and to a multisession discussion about the worrying state of maternal and prenatal medical care and ways to address it.

"Healthier mothers are an investment in the health and well-being of our communities and our world," Marie-Louise Coleiro, president of Malta, told the gathering. She particularly challenged Humanity 2.0 participants to brainstorm concrete ways to improve holistic care — medical, psychological and spiritual — for pregnant women and new mothers who are migrants or refugees.

"The challenge is to translate our love for humanity into real service to our brothers and sisters," said Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, undersecretary of the Vatican office for migrants and refugees. "We cannot claim to have or promote 'integral human development' if we leave some people out."