Press Release

1. Information

Event: International Conference of Theology

Organizer: Dicastery for Culture and Education

Title: International Congress on the Future of Theology: Legacy and Imagination

Dates: 9 and 10 December 2024

Location: Aula Magna of the Pontifical Lateran University (Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, 4)

Contacts for further information: congressoteologia@dce.va / www.dce.va

2. The purpose of the Congress

- To put theologians in the condition of being listened to and listening to each other on how to inherit the theological heritage of yesterday’s ecclesial generations, so that it may become a creative impetus for those of today and tomorrow;

- To question the “where”, “how” and “why” of theology, through a synodal methodology and process, with a view to a more ecclesial theology;

- To recognize mutually the relevance of the places (geographical, academic, ecclesial, cultural) where theology is developed and taught;

- To receive proposals that implement  what is required by the Preamble of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, with the consequent repercussions on study plans (particular reference to interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity), on academic institutions and on their network;

- To recognize the importance of theology in the life of the Church;

- To reaffirm the fundamental contribution of theology in the entire scientific system and in university research;

- To combat the cultural clandestinity suffered by theology, shedding light on its specific contribution to the creation of new paradigms of rationality;

- To rethink the network of theological academic institutions.

3. The Congress

- The Dicastery for Culture and Education, led by His Eminence Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, is organizing an International Congress on the future of theology, entitled “Legacy and Imagination”, to take place on 9 and 10 December 2024 in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome.

- The event responds to the Holy Father’s request that, in the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, confers to the Dicastery the competence of promoting in the Church as a whole “the establishment and development of a sufficient and qualified number of ecclesiastical and Catholic institutes of higher education … in which the sacred disciplines … can be deepened and fostered, taking into account Christian truths.  In this way, students can be suitably formed for carrying out their proper roles in the Church and in society” (Art. 161). Currently there are approximately three hundred and eighty Faculties and Institutes of Theology. The event also responds to the requests raised in the Foreword of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (2017). The Constitution demands that the Faculties of Theology are not limited to teaching and research, offering places and paths of qualified formation to priests, people of consecrated life and engaged laypeople, but first of all are transformed into “a sort of providential cultural laboratory in which the Church carries out the performative interpretation of the reality brought about by the Christ event and nourished by the gifts of wisdom and knowledge by which the Holy Spirit enriches the People of God in manifold ways – from the sensus fidei fidelium to the magisterium of the bishops, and from the charism of the prophets to that of the doctors and theologians” (Foreword, no. 3).

- The Congress presents itself as an historic moment because, for the first time, the entire geography of Catholic theology is involved with such a large number of participants, avoiding a certain theological Eurocentrism that has marked theology itself. Another novelty consists in the recourse to the “Conversation in the Spirit” method, so that all participants are fully active subjects and protagonists of the process and outcome.

4. The Programme

- The Congress will open with an Audience with the Holy Father, in the morning of 9 December, and will then continue in the afternoon of 9 December and the entire day of 10 December in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Lateran University (Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, 4, Rome). During the two days, the Congress will host around five hundred theologians from all the continents. The conference will be structured in three parts: the “where”, the “how” and the “why” of theology. The programme will include short interventions from experts from the seven geographical-ecclesial areas (Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Oceania, and the Eastern Churches). Great importance is given to linguistic round tables, which will take up, using the “Conversation in the Spirit” method, what has been heard in the Assembly.

5. The Scientific Committee

- Besides the Superiors and the Officials of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the International Congress will count on the experience and guidance of a scientific committee composed of experts of international renown. These will include: Benjamin Akotia (Université Catholique de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, Costa d’Avorio); Piero Coda (Istituto Universitario Sophia, Italy); Estela Padilla (CBCP-BEC Committee, Philippines); Christoph Theobald SJ (Facultés Loyola Paris, France); Juan Chapa (Universidad de Navarra, Spain); Geraldo de Mori (Faculdade de Filosofia e Teologia de Belo Horizonte, Brazil); Mikel Deneken (Université de Strasbourg, France); Maeve Heaney (Australian Catholic University, Australia); and Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator (Santa Clara University, USA).

6. Invited Observers

The following will be present as invited observers: Teresa Bartolomei (Universidade Católica Portuguesa), Tomáš Halík (Univerzity Karlovy) and Pierangelo Sequeri (Pontificio Istituto Giovanni Paolo II).

ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE

Journalists and media operators who wish to participate must apply, no less than 48 hours before the event, via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti