A Symposium for Healing and Renewal | May 23โ25, 2025 | Pontifical Urban University, Rome
The passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, marks a profound turning point for the global Catholic Church. His papacy, born from a life deeply shaped by solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, and the wounded, leaves behind a legacy of humility and courageous truth-telling. Raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio witnessed firsthand the scars left by dictatorship, colonialism, and inequality. From these experiences he carried into the papacy a fierce conviction: the Church must evangelize healing and be willing to reckon honestly with its history.
This conviction drove his historic apology in 2022 to the Indigenous peoples of Canada, where he confessed:
“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.”
The apology echoed far beyond Canada. In 2023, standing before the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis cried out:
“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.”
Here was a Pope who understood that reconciliation is lived. Atonement is a lifestyle. His life and final teachings now pass into the hands of a new generation.
In this spirit of healing and bold reimagining, the Teaching Artist Institute in collaboration with Omnes Gentes of Pontifical Urbaniana University announce the symposium, Burning Themes of the Christian Mission in Africa: Re-reading History for New Paths of Fruitful Evangelization in Today’s Africa.
The gathering will be held from May 23 to May 25, 2025, in Rome, bringing together scholars, artists, theologians, and justice advocates.
The timing is deeply symbolic. The symposium coincides with the conclusion of academic formation for the next generation of Catholic priests preparing for ordination in June 2025. It also opens African Liberation Weekend, a celebration of freedom, sovereignty, and the enduring spirit of African peoples. Most importantly, it is part of the Year of Jubilee; a sacred season of release, restoration, and reparation.
Reflecting on this moment, Kim Poole, Founder of the Teaching Artist Institute, offers:
“During this year of Jubilee, how could we ever forget the forgiveness, apology, and atonement sought by Pope Francis? May his efforts live on through the next generation of priesthood, who carry the torch of healing and justice into a new era.”
Adding historic resonance to the gathering, Francia Mรกrquez, the first Afro-descendant Vice President of Colombia, who met with Pope Francis on January 12, 2023, has been invited to deliver the keynote address. Their meeting centered around shared commitments to social justice, environmental stewardship, and the defense of marginalized peoples.
This symposium stands on the foundation of the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing, launched on July 18, 2022, under the leadership of Kamm Howard of Reparations United. That dialogue engaged the Vatican in urgent conversations about reparative justice and moral accountability.
The symposiumโs dialogues will be moderated by distinguished professors from the Faculty of Missiology at the Pontifical Urban University, alongside Lanshima Emmanuel Gbatar, the President of Omnes Gentes and a rising voice among Catholic youth.
As the Church mourns a shepherd who embodied humility, justice, and renewal, this symposium offers a sacred space to remember, to reckon, and to reimagine. It invites all to join in a living act of faith; a communion of memory, hope, and healing.
