Friday, November 12, 2010

Major conference on Pope John Paul II to be held in Dublin

A major conference on the heritage of Pope John Paul II will be held at Saint Patrick's College in Drumcondra in Dublin on Friday and Saturday November 12 and 13.  

Contributors include the Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza, the Polish Ambassador to Ireland Marcin Nawrot, Bishop Fiacra Ó'Ceallaigh, Eileen Kane, John McEnerney, John Murray and Fr Vincent Twomey.  

Also, organiser Dr Ciarán Ó'Coiligh will discuss the life of the late Pope John Paul II, his literary compositions, his involvement with the arts, his philosophy, his theology, the theology of the body, his interfaith dialogue and his ecumenical dialogue.  

Dánta Eoin Pól II, an Irish translation of the poems of Pope John Paul II will also be launched as part of the conference.  

According to Dr Ciarán Ó'Coiligh all presentations on the day will be given in both Irish and English.  

The conference itself commences on Friday with the official opening by the Papal Nuncio at 9:45am.  

This will be followed by a speech on the life and times of the late Pontiff by his fellow countryman ambassador Marcin Nawrot.  

Dr Ciarán Ó'Coiligh himself will lecture on Pope John Paul's life as a poet, playwright and sportsman and this will be followed by the book launch. 

Eileen Keane will talk in the afternoon on Pope John Paul's role in the arts while John McEnerney and John Murray will look at his role in philosophy and theology, respectively. 

On Saturday, Fr Vincent Twomey further examines Pope John Paul's theology while Peter Amirand will examine his inter-faith dialogue. 

The conference will conclude with a forum on Pope John Paul's ecumenism.

SIC: CIN/IE