Father Julián Carrón, the global leader of the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation and author of the groundbreaking book Disarming Beauty (2017), has said, “If you don’t think [Pope] Francis is the cure, you don’t grasp the disease.”
Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Pope’s representative to the United States, pointed out to the U.S. bishops: “Often division in the Church, sometimes along political lines, occurs because issues are placed against each other rather than within the larger framework of Catholic Social Doctrine, which necessarily promotes a consistent ethic and culture of life and opposes the 'throwaway' culture lamented by our Holy Father.”
These two priests from Spain and France, respectively, explored how the countercultural message of Disarming Beauty and the compelling mission of Pope Francis and challenges America's assumptions, ideologies, and politics.
In a conversation, moderated by John Carr of Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Archbishop Pierre and Father Carrón explored:
- how faith is more relationship and encounter than a body of thought;
- what freedom means in our Church, our society, and our lives;
- what it means to be human and how to protect and enhance human life and dignity today;
- what new paths there are for believers in areas of family, work, education, and politics;
- how to understand and overcome divisions, conflict, violence, and despair with love, justice, and beauty.
This conversation and the subsequent reception were co-sponsored by the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, Crossroads Cultural Center, and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
