杏MAP导航

By Christopher Wells

On Thursday, the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences solemnly inaugurated the 鈥�Gaudium et spes鈥� Chair, dedicated to studying 鈥渢he interaction between Christian and secular thought.鈥�

The new academic Chair was established as part of the Pontifical Institute, itself a new foundation, brought into being in September of last year with the motu proprio 鈥�.鈥�

Letter of 杏MAP导航 Francis

The Inauguration of the Gaudium et spes Chair was marked by a Pontifical Letter from 杏MAP导航 Francis, which was published by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and Grand Chancellor of the Institute.

In his letter, 杏MAP导航 Francis expressed his appreciation for the work of the Institute and his hopes and best wishes for the new Chair. He noted that Gaudium et spes was promulgated on the final day of the Second Vatican Council, and was, he said, 鈥渁ble to express and give form to the profound intentions that guided the calling and unfolding of the Council.鈥�

Commitment to Gaudium et spes

The Holy Father said he was happy that the Institute 鈥渉as taken up a particular commitment to keep alive the attention to that conciliar document, and to deepen the study of it, in order to make ever more fruitful its precious legacy.鈥�

The new Chair, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渇its in well within the horizon of your particular academic mission toward marriage and the family.鈥� The Church, he said, through Gaudium et spes, has been able to 鈥渆xpress a profoundly renewed understanding of the 鈥榞ospel of the family鈥欌�� leading ultimately 鈥渢o the intense synodal period that culminated in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia.鈥�