On May 8, 2025, the Catholic Church welcomed its 267th pontiff, Pope Leo XVI, marking a historic moment as the first American-born pope in the Church’s 2,000-year history. Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, Illinois, the 69-year-old cardinal brings a unique blend of pastoral experience, global perspective, and administrative acumen to the papacy. His election, announced with the traditional...
The Cross, and the Theology of the Body of Christ
The intersection of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic concept of the Real, the Christian symbol of the Cross, and the theology of the Body of Christ offers a profound lens through which to explore the human condition, divine encounter, and the transformative power of faith. By integrating Michel Foucault’s insights on power and subjectivity alongside the Pauline concept of dynamis (divine...
The Theology of the Body of Christ: Thinking Forgiveness and the Cross
The intersection of philosophy and theology offers fertile ground for reimagining Christian concepts in ways that address the complexities of human existence. By synthesizing Vladimir Jankélévitch’s philosophy of forgiveness with Slavoj Žižek’s concept of the Real of the Cross, we can construct a theology of the Body of Christ that emphasizes radical love, material immanence, and the transformative power...
Building a Church of Mercy: Walter Kasper’s Theology and Synodality
Cardinal Walter Kasper, a prominent German theologian, has profoundly shaped contemporary Catholic thought through his emphasis on mercy as the heart of the Gospel. His theological insights, particularly as articulated in his book Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life, resonate deeply with Pope Francis’s vision of a synodal Church—a Church that journeys together,...
Synodality and Theologies: Embracing Kenotic Humility in Catholic Discernment
In the philosophical framework of Alain Badiou, an Event is a rupture in the fabric of being, an infinite set that transcends the ordinary situational order and introduces a new truth. Badiou’s concept of the Event, when applied to theology, offers a profound lens for understanding the Jesus Event—the life, death, and resurrection of Christ—as an infinite set. Within...
Pope Francis and His Legacy of Mercy, Synodality, and Care for Creation
On 21 April 2025 , the world mourned the loss of Pope Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, whose papacy was marked by a profound commitment to compassion, synodality, and a transformative vision for a Church rooted in mercy and solidarity with the poor. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936,...
Theologizing in the Spirit of Synodality
How are we to theologize in a polarised India ? The binary framework that seems to have become main stream in our country constrains and narrows our imagination. It has marked out a space where only the story of the majority community can be legitimately told. There appears to be no room for the other stories of the minorities,...
Synodal Discipleship and Young Seminarians
His Eminence Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa in his message during the inauguration of the formative year 2024-2025 at the mission seminary in Pilar had called seminary formation to prepare young seminarians to be synodal disciples and synodal priests. His eminence indicated that a synodal Church has three qualities: Listening, Being inclusive and Healing. Listening involves...
Living the Legacy of Fr. Felix Wilfred
The sudden death of a great luminary, mentor and a friend Fr. Felix Wilfred has sent feelings of shock , sadness and sheer inability to process the event in depths of our being. The loss a great Asian theologian has brought a feeling that time is out of joint. We seem to be pushed in a zone out time...
From the Cradle… to the Cross … to the Crown
Christmas is a time that opens us to the greatest gift ever given in human history. The story of this greatest gift ever given is a story of love peace, mercy and hope. It is also a story of humility and sacrifice. Cradle and the cross come to gather to give us Christ at Christmas. Usually, our eyes are...
