Manuel Braga da Cruz: Árvore da Vida Award is "proof of generosity"
Manuel Braga da Cruz, former rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, was awarded the Árvore da Vida - Padre Manuel Antunes Award, for 2022, announced the National Secretariat of the Pastoral of Culture. Manual Braga da Cruz will receive the award on March 8, at 6 p.m., in Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa.
"I received the news of the awarding of the Fr. Manuel Antunes Prize with surprise and some incredulity. I can only express my gratitude for such generosity. The decision to award a prize to a social scientist certainly represents the recognition of the cultural dimension of the social, of the Social Sciences as Sciences of the Spirit or Sciences of Culture, in which the study of faith has a function of illuminating reality," said Manuel Braga da Cruz.
Since 2005, the Árvore da Vida Award annually highlights "the excellence of personalities, journeys, and works that reflect humanism and Christian experience in the contemporary world," the secretariat reveals.
"With a structured thought since his initial formation in Philosophy, Manuel Braga da Cruz combined in an exemplary way the freedom of spirit with the coherence of principles in his university career as a brilliant researcher and professor (from the Institute of Social Sciences to Universidade Católica Portuguesa, of which he was Rector between 2000 and 2012)," says the jury's summary justification.
The jury took into account "the excellent research work and reflection carried out (...) in the related areas of Sociology and Political Science, as well as in History studies", particularly "on the background and development of the Estado Novo and the relations between Church and State in that period".
The statement points out the "high qualities" of the "outstanding intellectual career" and "convinced witness of Christian humanism" of Manuel António Garcia Braga da Cruz, born in 1946 in Tadim, Braga.
Qualities that are evident either "in the constant intervention in the public space as a reference speaker and writer", or in his several works, such as “Raízes do Presente e Retratos Contemporâneos”, “Teorias Sociológicas”, “Instituições Políticas e Processos Sociais”, “Política Comparada”, “Sistemas Eleitorais – o debate científico”, “Transições Históricas e Reformas Políticas em Portugal”, “A Globalização, Portugal e a Europa”, “O Sistema Político Português”, “Os Católicos, a Sociedade e o Estado, “Monárquicos e Republicanos no Estado Novo” e “O Estado Novo e a Igreja Católica”.
The jury, which deliberated unanimously on November 4, was presided over by D. João Lavrador and made up of Carlos Magno, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, José Carlos Seabra Pereira, Fr. José Frazão Correia, SJ, and Maria Teresa Dias Furtado.