Cardinal Hollerich, Archbishop Paglia, economist Mazzucato present new book
March 29, 2023
On March 27, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, and Mariana Mazzucato presented a new book, Iniziare dai Molti: Orizzonti del pensiero fraterno [Starting from the Many: Horizons of Fraternal Thought], published by the Vatican Publishing House.
The Luxembourg cardinal, who is also relator general of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, has characterized Catholic teaching on homosexuality as “false” and has made more recent controversial statements. Since 2016, Archbishop Paglia has been president of the Pontifical Academy for Life and grand chancellor of the refounded John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences. Msgr. Sequeri was president of the refounded institute from 2016 to 2021. In 2022, Pope Francis named Mazzucato, an economist who supports abortion “rights,” as an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy for Lie—and defended the appointment.
The editor-in-chief of the Vatican newspaper and the publisher of the Vatican Publishing House moderated the conversation. The Vatican newspaper reported that during the press conference, the four presenters discussed three themes: the outbound Church, the encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, and the Synod.
“The Church needs to make a paradigm shift,” said Cardinal Hollerich. As “Christianity becomes increasingly weak” in a secularized world, people are nonetheless “interested in the Gospel and want a Church that acts like Jesus.” Synodality is “a way to change things.”
“When we take care of anyone, whether Jewish or Buddhist, then young people appreciate us,” he added. “Even with those who have no religion we must rediscover the terrain of the human.”
Archbishop Paglia said that “in the face of the imminent danger that humanity can actually destroy itself, with nuclear power, with impacts on the climate, with new technologies, we feel the urgent need of an alliance between intellectuals with religious knowledge and intellectuals with knowledge of science.”
Mazzucato discussed Fratelli Tutti, the preferential option for the poor, the need for a more equitable society, and the desirability a collective sharing of revenues—rather than “socializing risks and privatizing revenues.”
Msgr. Sequeri, the editor of the new book, said that we should be happy to “inhabit the religious space with those who are different from me.” The challenge of synodality, he said, is “starting from the many.”
“The Church is not built only with the disciples or only with the crowd,” he added. “Together, yes.”
The book includes contributions from ten theologians. The Pontifical Academy for Life has published in English the introduction to the book, as well as Archbishop Paglia’s contribution.
“Faced with the urgency of the new challenges that lie before us, it is no longer possible to refrain from acting and wearisomely repeat the usual formulas,” Archbishop Paglia wrote. “On the contrary, there is an urgent need for theology and science to engage creatively in a debate on the new scenarios that technological development and anthropological changes place before our very eyes.”
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