by Br Thomiihie N. Kajiri and Br Martis Dean for BIS Mumbai

Divyadaan, the Salesian Institute of Philosophy at Nashik conducted a two-day annual seminar by the professors of the Institute on September 30 and October 1, 2025. The theme for the seminar was, “The Romantic Anthropology of Pope Francis.” There were around 120 participants from the institute and from the nearby religious communities. The Annual Seminar was moderated by Fr Jacob Palaparambil, the registrar of  the Institute.  A total of 10 papers were presented by different professors.

On the first day, the programme started sharply at 9 a.m. with the invocation of the Holy Spirit. Fr Robert Pen, the Principal of the Institute, welcomed the gathering. Fr Ivo Coelho, the rector, gave the introductory talk in order to situate the whole seminar. He started with a quote from Pope Francis, “I have loved the romantics, in music as well as in literature.” He explained the romanticism in Francis life and letter. Fr Wyman Gonsalves spoke on the dialogue between the creator, the creation, and the creature. Fr Ashley Miranda, the Provincial, presented the influence of Guardini on Pope Francis. Fr Joaquim D’Souza dealt with faith, reason and heart from the Pope’s encyclical Amoris Laetitia going into the complexities and flexibilities. Fr Ian Pinto in his presentation showed discernment as seeing from God’s point of view and to think with the head, lead with the heart and do with the hands. Fr Vincent Lawrance in his talk showed the heart as the spiritual center of the human person. Freedom is rooted in the heart and directed towards love. In the evening, there was also the screening of the movie, “Chiamatemi Francesco” (Call me Francis).

On the second day, Fr Pen, the Principal, started his presentation on the listening heart where listening is decisive in the grammar of communication. Listening becomes a moral act of opening oneself in love. It is an active engagement leading to a mutual formation. Fr Felix Fernandes spoke on the human dignity and the romantic Pope. In his talk, he mentioned, we become fully human when we become more than humans, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain our full being. The exclusion and inequality found where the powerful feeds on the powerless.

Fr Jayaseelan Savariarpitchai spoke on the topic, Synodality: Towards a Religion of a Thinking Heart. Of reawakening the old practices in a new way, he mentioned of a heart that thinks and a heart that feels, where both must converge. For a synodality three dimensions are necessary, they are, communion, participation and mission. Fr. Jacob Palaparambil, as the last speaker, presented a chronological outline of Pope Francis’ papacy from 2013-2024 and the occuring theme on Love.

The annual seminar for this academic year concluded with a panel discussion where many concrete questions came up in relation to the seminar from the participants.