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Catholic Institute for Nonviolence to Launch in Rome, Contribute to 2024 synod  

Pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square hold up a sign that says “pace,” which means “peace” in Italian.

By Kate Quiñones

CNA Staff, 25 September, 2024 / 1:40 pm (ACI Africa).

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar and Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego will lead the inauguration of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence on Sept. 29 in Rome at the Istituto Maria Santissima Bambina, a convent just outside St. Peter’s Square.

The institute’s goal is to deepen “Catholic understanding of and commitment to the practice of Gospel nonviolence,” according to a Sept. 25 press release.

Sister Teresia Wachira of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and renowned author and researcher Maria Stephan will lead the inauguration alongside the two cardinals.

The Institute is “aimed at facilitating nonviolence research, resources, and experiences for Catholic Church leaders, communities, and institutions” and has a 21-member advisory council featuring nonviolence scholars, researchers, and Church leaders.  

The council will focus on several areas of research including “Gospel nonviolence,” which relates to understanding nonviolence as a “way of life.” It will focus on “how the Church can integrate Gospel nonviolence throughout its life and work” as well as highlighting how the Church can work with other religions to spread the practice of nonviolence.

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There will also be a concentration in “nonviolent practices and strategic power,” which will investigate nonviolent strategies for real-world problems. The third concentration, “contextual experiences of nonviolence,” will connect those who have lived out nonviolence and will emphasize “case studies of nonviolent practice.”

Next month, the institute will contribute to the 2024 Synod on Synodality by offering seminars on questions of nonviolence and legitimate self-defense as well as discussing formation in nonviolent conflict management.

The advisory council includes Maria Clara Bingemer, a professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Archbishop Peter Chong of Suva, Fiji; and Erica Chenoweth, dean and professor at Harvard University known for her work on nonviolence. 

The inauguration takes place amid debates over what constitutes a just war according to Catholic just war theory. McElroy recently said in a Sept. 23 interview with Vatican News that “just war theories are a secondary element in Catholic teaching; the first is that we should not engage in warfare at all.” 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that all citizens and governments “are obliged to work for the avoidance of war,” though “governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed” (CCC, 2308, 2309).

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The institute originates from Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. Pax Christi is a Catholic nonviolence movement that seeks to address the root causes of violent conflict. 

The event will take place on the same day as the Pax Christi International Peace Award ceremony, which has been awarded to men and women who have stood up for nonviolence since 1992. This year’s recipient is Sister Gladys Montesinos, a Peruvian Carmelite missionary who works with Indigenous peoples in the Bolivian Amazon. 

Pax Christi International will stream the inauguration on its YouTube channel.

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