Pope Francis is able to communicate common values across borders of religion, regions, and sociopolitical systems. Catholic social teaching on the common good, particularly as articulated and promoted by him as part of a culture of encounter, conveys a relevant message for our times. Approaching the pope’s initiative from a South Asian context, I argue that an engagement with dharma, a religioethical vision, can be part of this culture of encounter, especially in public theological conversations about the common good. Specifically, the themes of the common good, like integral ecology and care for the vulnerable, as earnestly promoted by Pope Francis, can converse with dharma for mutual enrichment, even while the basic teachings on human dignity, freedom, and inalienable rights can usefully enrich the latter.

This article revisits Francis’s vision of politics as one of the highest forms of charity. It argues that Francis’s concept of “political charity” goes beyond a mere repetition of classical church social teaching on politics to ground a spirituality for Christian politicians. He does this mainly in two ways: the first is by inscribing the main Christian virtue of love at the heart of political practice; the second is by portraying both politics and economics as Christian vocations to be embraced as noble paths to holiness. Finally, I introduce an African perspective into the discussion for context and illustration.

This article argues that Pope Francis’s conviction that the Holy Spirit guides the synodal journey represents a creative reception of the Second Vatican Council. By highlighting the Spirit’s agency, Francis offers an alternative to Lumen Gentium’s often ornamental pneumatology. While thus confirming the council’s theological rather than institutional understanding of the church, he complements its christocentric

The ten-year Francis pontificate represents a fresh reception of the Second Vatican Council. The full dimensions of this reception can be apprehended through the lens of synodality, the leitmotif of the Francis papacy. This article will consider four features of synodality exhibited in the papal magisterium of Pope Francis that help us appreciate the ways

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has both broadened and enhanced the concept of synodality and the synodal process to involve “especially those on the periphery who are often excluded and forgotten” (Vademecum) and even those who have left the church. This thrust toward maximum participation and inclusion will necessarily give rise to divergences and conflicts

This article offers an appreciative but critical appraisal of Ignacio Ellacuría’s concept of “the crucified people,” which identifies the oppressed peoples of history with both Jesus and the Suffering Servant. In formulating his concept, Ellacuría does not sufficiently delineate the potential volitional differences between Jesus, the Servant, and the crucified peoples of history. As a

This article argues that Pope Francis adopts a practice-focused approach to synodality, and it examines key elements of that approach, including the practice of ecclesial discernment, and the requirement that the church read the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel.

In recent decades, prominent Christian theologians have described Jesus as the “Torah in person.” This article considers whether such a Torah-in-person Christology falls into a kind of Christian supersessionism (i.e., the suggestion that Christianity sits atop or even takes the place of Judaism). To answer this question, I consider David Novak’s distinction between hard and soft varieties of supersessionism, suggesting that there might be an additional “appropriative” variety. Appropriative supersessionism, exemplified by so-called “Christian Seders,” occurs when Christians problematically lay claim to central elements of the rabbinic tradition. Although Torah-in-person Christology eschews hard supersessionism and underlines the Jewishness of Jesus, it arguably operates in an appropriative supersessionist way. I propose that a covenant Christology features the same advantages that motivate the Torah-in-person category while also circumventing its problematic appropriative aspect.

This article traces the development of a tension between the missionary theology of Ad Gentes and Nostra Aetate’s incipient theology of religions through a period of intermediate curial debate toward a resolution expressed in the magisterial teachings of Pope Francis. Shortcomings in both conciliar documents reveal Eurocentric biases in the council’s ecclesial imaginary; further, postconciliar curial reflections, informed by a fear of error and relativism, submit dialogue to the particular missionary goal of conversion of non-Christians. Ultimately, Francis’s description of the theological task as fundamentally comparative in Ad Theologiam Promovendam offers the church a broader range of methodological approaches to diversity and normativity that make intellectually and ethically responsible theology possible in a religiously diverse world.

Pope Francis imbued the ancient word parrhesia with new significance, framing “frank, bold, courageous speech” as a partner concept to his signature vision of a “listening church.” After tracing Michel Foucault’s genealogy of the term, I argue that Francis’s pneumatological turn is a creative ressourcement of parrhesia, one that would require major shifts for the present church to embrace. To illuminate the challenging intra-ecclesial dynamics of parrhesia, I analyze three case studies of figures from Vatican II whose frank, bold, courageous speech met institutional backlash. I conclude with implications for realizing a more parrhesiastic culture in a synodal church.