Joan Rigol has been a rich and singular personality. He will be spoken from many aspects in the fields of politics and culture. Here we want to highlight the central importance of his Christian vision of values and existence. We do this from the Board of Trustees of the Joan Maragall Foundation, of which he was a part for seventeen years, from 2004 to 2021. His contribution was fruitful, from a broad, synergistic and generous vision of the cultural and political world.
Three key Christian influences in the formation of Joan Rigol were Christian personalism, the social doctrine of the Church and the encyclicals Pacem in Terris of John XXIII (1963) and Populorum progressio of Paul VI (1968). Authors such as Marcel, Maritain and Mounier were essential in his thinking. His doctoral theses in Theology and Philosophy were, respectively, Fonament teològic de la dignitat de la persona en la theologia politica by Jacques Maritain, and Amor més enllà de la mort en l’obra philosofica de Gabriel Marcel
The rapport with the social doctrine of the Church marked his conciliatory action as Minister of Labor (1980-1984), in times of a serious economic crisis with many people unemployed, promoting dialogue between employers and unions and the confluence of actions of various administrations.
The fact that he had been Minister of Treball before that of Culture (1984-1985, in which he attempted a cultural pact between the various administrations) gave his vision of culture an especially broad touch; He tried to involve business and union sectors that are not usually direct actors. From the Joan Maragall Foundation, many years later, he organized meetings in this sense, made possible thanks to his contacts and prestige.
The Second Vatican Council, and in particular Gaudium et Spes (the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 1965), plus the encyclicals Pacem in Terris and Populorum Progressio, represented a very active opening of the Church to contemporary concerns, such as relations between Christianity and secular culture, human rights and duties, and the economic and social progress of peoples. What current issues, right now, when there seems to be a setback in human rights in many countries, an inflation of rights to the detriment of duties and responsibilities in others, and when the imbalance in the progress of people is at the origin of so many movements migratory!
Rigol actively participated in these concerns, which marked him as a politician (affiliated with Unió Democràtica de Catalunya in 1976, which he presided over between 1987 and 2000, deputy in the Congress of Deputies and in the Parliament of Catalonia, first vice-president of the Senate, president of the Parliament of Catalonia…). Among the ten books he wrote in relation to politics, we would highlight Compromís politico i sentit cristià (2005) and Restore politics; about Jacques Maritain that focus on the Christian values that guided him as a politician and on the values of politics, in a time of commotion in which it is urgent and necessary to recover prestige.
Combining his role as deputy president of the construction board of the Sagrada Família (2005-2011) and as a member of the board of trustees of the foundation, he joined the efforts of these entities to hold an extensive exhibition on Gaudí’s work in Rome (The Sagrada Família de Barcelona: art, science and spirituality, November 2011-January 2012) in Vatican premises. His relationship with Montserrat (president of the Montserrat Mountain Trust and the Cassià Just Foundation) should also be highlighted.
It is logical that Rigol was deeply interested in the role of the Catholic Church in particular, and the various confessions and religions in general, in the social cohesion and cultural and spiritual wealth of the country. In this sense, he adopted a vision of positive secularism, integrating the possibilities and risks of various religions. Catalan culture, Catalan Church, Church and Catalonia, social rights, people’s rights were topics on which he reflected at length, in a period of history (1963-2023) in which the religious panorama and political aspirations in Catalonia (and in Europe in general) have changed so much. Christianity and culture were, therefore, for him, foundations of political action, existential inquiry, openness towards others and vital commitment: a legacy of courtesy, generosity, spirituality and sum.