In his August 2022 speech to the United Nations, Pope Francis said that we are living through World War III, which is being fought piecemeal. The environmental crisis, threats to democracy and human rights, war, and the persecution of religion are some of the challenges facing humanity and the Catholic Church, which must exercise its prophetic role.
In this discussion, scholars of different nationalities sat down with the Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs Senior Fellow José Casanova to discuss topics such as the crisis of democracy, human rights, church updating, and ecumenism in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. These challenges call the Church back to the exercise of its prophetic role, that is, the ability to grasp the signs of the times and ferry humanity to a better future. The goal of the discussion was to explore the complexity of these challenges by comparing perspectives that come from different cultural and disciplinary backgrounds, embracing a culture of encounter, a method used by Pope Francis to foster the development of peaceful and long-term solutions.
This event was organized by the Georgetown University Representative Office in Rome in collaboration with LUISS Guido Carli University.