New "Gaudium et spes" Chair to study relationship between Christian and secular thought

By Christopher Wells

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

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 “Summa familiae cura.”

Letter of Pope Francis

The Inauguration of the Gaudium et spes Chair was marked by a Pontifical Letter from Pope 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, Pope 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, “able to express and give form to the profound intentions that guided the calling and unfolding of the Council.”

Commitment to Gaudium et spes

The Holy Father said he was happy that the Institute “has 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.”

The new Chair, the Pope said, “fits in well within the horizon of your particular academic mission toward marriage and the family.” The Church, he said, through Gaudium et spes, has been able to “express a profoundly renewed understanding of the ‘gospel of the family’” leading ultimately “to the intense synodal period that culminated in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia.”