Introduction

Every year in Madrid, since 1981, at the end of the Summer break, a secular theology congress is held in the first or second week of september, organised by the Juan XXIII (Spanish) association of male and female theologians, who were greatly encouraged by the reforms promoted by the 2nd Vatican Council and Liberation Theology. Originally, these congresses were presential and were held in the auditorium of the Spanish trades union Comisiones Obreras owing to the refusal by the bishops of Madrid to allow these secular congresses to take place in buildings belonging to catholic religious orders.

In the first year of the pandemic, the annual theology congress did not take place but since then

all the congresses have been held using internet. Subscribers to these theology congresses pay a fee of 20 Euros per person to cover the  website and the recordings of the proceedings.  There is no charge for downloading the information after the annual congress.

Up to now all the annual theology congresses have been held in Spanish but they are extremely popular and Professor Tamayo, Secretary of the John XXIII Association mentioned in his presentation address of the 43rd annual congress in September 2024 that there were participants from 55 different countries.

I was born in the UK in 1941 in llkley (Yorkshire) in a catholic family of British parents whose ancesters were Italians and Belgians on my father's side and English and Irish, on my mother's. I was the youngest member of a family of 3 brothers and two sisters. I was educated in the Benedictine monastery school of Ampleforth where my two elder brothers had studied before joining the armed forces, like my father. My two elder sisters studied in Sacred Heart schools.

I emigrated to Spain when I was 22. I am married and my wife and children and grandchildren all hold Spanish nationality, as I do too, since I have lived in Spain for over 60 years.

I have often thought that it is a pity that the wealth of information available in the 43 editions of the annual Madrid theology congresses is not available to the public in other languages and since I am webmaster of the European grassroots christian association European Network Church on the Move EN-RE I asked the organisers of the theology congresses for permission to translate the texts provided by the speakers in each of the congresses into English, French and German, since EN-RE’s official languages are these three + Spanish.

What is special about EN-RE is that since 2008 it is an accredited international NGO in the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe where our members belong to different committees relating to human rights in their maximum extension so we believe we are helping to build what Jesus of Nazareth called God’s Kingdom since the successful recommendations on which we work become eventually laws in the 46 member States of the Council of Europe.

Spanish speakers can now click on https://congresodeteologia.info, select the 43rd Congress and connect by YouTube to the recordings of the speakers and download their biographies and the texts they sent to last year’s theology congress.

I am using the DeepL translator to translate the Spanish texts into English, French and German. I can correct mistakes in English and French but I don’t understand German so I would be grateful if German readers can advise me of any corrections that are needed by emailing me

Now, please click on Presentation 43rd Theology Congress

JESÚS A. NÚÑEZ VILLAVERDE gave a talk (recorded in Spanish) on Conflicts and Humanitarian Actions but sent no text.  Please click on NÚÑEZ VILLAVERDE to read his biographic details.

OLGA RODRÍGUEZ FRANCISCO

Please click on Olga Rodríguez Francisco to read her biographic details in English

Kindly click on "In the Face of the Normalisation of War, a Culture of Peace" to read Olga Rodriguez Francisco's article

IGNACIO ALVAREZ-OSSORIO VILARIÑO

Please click on Ignacio Alvarez_Ossorio Vilariño to read his biographic details in English

Now click on "Religious Sionism & the Israeli Colonial Project" to read his article

ITZIAR RUIZ-GIMÉNEZ ARRIETA gave a talk entitled "An ecofeminist and decolonial look at War and Peace".  She sent no text to the Congress but you can view her recording in Spanish.

Please click on ITZIAR to read her biographic details in English

LEONARDO BOFF

Please click on Leonardo Boff to read his biographic details in English

To read Leonardo's article, kindly click on "A theological-biblical reflection, Ways for Peace:  Shalom and Justice"

Click on Message of the 43rd Theology Congress to read the text

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