Creating peaceful and interconnected societies is a challenge during times of ideological extremism and economic crisis. But His Eminence Francis Cardinal George believes that the flourishing of faith across the globe and a renewed commitment to religious freedom can help create international peace. Churches, synagogues, mosques, and others institutions advocate for humane values, reason and social justice in domestic and foreign policy debates. In this talk, Cardinal George argues that when reason and religion both play a role within public life, it preserves the sources of morality and human dignity and creates a stable global order.

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Ph.D., S.T.D., was named the eighth Archbishop of Chicago by Pope John Paul II in 1997. He was elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1998. He is the first native Chicagoan to serve as Archbishop of Chicago. Before this, he was provincial superior of the Midwestern Province for the Oblates, vicar general of the Oblates in Rome, coordinator of the Circle of Fellows for the Cambridge Center for the Study of Faith and Culture in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bishop of Yakima and Archbishop of Portland, Oregon. He studied theology at the University of Ottawa and was ordained a priest in 1963. He earned master’s degrees from the Catholic University of America and the University of Ottawa, and doctorates from Tulane University and the Pontifical Urban University in Rome. He taught philosophy at the Oblate Seminary, Tulane University and Creighton University. In November 2007, Cardinal George was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Recorded Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at Fairmont Hotel.