Inspired by the Catholic Social Teaching, the goal of UNIAPAC is to promote amongst business leaders the vision and implementation of an economy serving the human person and the common good.

In 1931, a group of Catholic employers created an International Comité d'Initiative at the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Rerum novarum in Rome.

In 1958, a permanent international secretariat was created in Brussels with the support of Léon Bekaert (Belgium) and Peter H. Werhahn (Germany).

In 1991, UNIAPAC commemorated in Rome the centenary of “Rerum Novarum” and presented to His Holiness John-Paul II the book “The Churches facing the enterprise – A Hundred Years of Social Thinking”.

Today, the head office of UNIAPAC is established in Paris, with Rodrigo Whitelaw as the Secretary General.