https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/332 2026-06-30T03:44:27Z 2026-06-30T03:44:27Z Farrugia, Edward https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147672 2026-06-24T10:49:28Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Primacy from below? Authors: Farrugia, Edward Abstract: Nowadays, papal primacy is often presented as follows. Popes realise that their office, meant to rally all Christians, actually is the stumbling-block to unity; this was so with Paul VI, and John Paul II even asked Christians to suggest how to create a modern papacy while respecting Christ’s will regarding Church leadership. Francis regrets that all too few concrete suggestions have come in. Turning the model upside down makes the pyramid stand on its head, becoming a funnel, we may say, and serving here as method by letting several strands of a forgotten theme converge. How should a flock meant to follow such an updated model look like? What degree of maturity can one realistically expect from the followers to be able to have a dynamic leader for a pope? [extract]

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Eckholt, Margit https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147670 2026-06-24T10:43:07Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Representing the “Christ Diakonos” : a vote for the sacramental diaconate of women in a world Church perspective Authors: Eckholt, Margit Abstract: From Würzburg to Frankfurt: The Sacramental Diaconate for Women as a Vote of the Roman-Catholic Church in Germany; With the call to establish the ministry of the permanent diaconate for married, professional men, and as an independent sacramental office with an ordination “unto a ministry of service”, a movement was introduced into the theology of ministry – a movement which is present in the Catholic Church to this day. This “permanent diaconate” is understood – according to the council’s perspective – within the framework of the Church’s sacramental ministry of salvation, as a special representation of the diaconal Christ – the “Christus diakonos”. In times of the council, the question of the diaconate of women was already on the agenda; the German Catholic women’s associations had gathered “wishes” from female Catholics to the council in preparation for the council, among them the reference to women’s access to the diaconate. The St. Joan’s International Alliance, which was active worldwide and arose in the course of the first women’s movement, sent a petition to the Commission for the Apostolate of the Laity on 27-28 May 1961 asking for the establishment of the diaconate for men and women. [extract]

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Farrugia, Jonathan https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147656 2026-06-24T08:50:22Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: La divinità del Figlio e dello Spirito Santo nei discorsi di Gregorio di Nissa Authors: Farrugia, Jonathan Abstract: Alcune omelie del Nisseno hanno un tema specificamente cristologico (le omelie festive predicate nei giorni di natale e pasqua), una parla dello Spirito santo (l’omelia per la santa Pentecoste) e poi ci sono due omelie che parlano specificamente della divinità della seconda e terza persona della Trinità (l’omelia contro Evagrio sulla divinità dello Spirito, e l’omelia sulla divinità del Figlio e dello Spirito e su Abramo). In questo studio propongo di esaminare il linguaggio su Dio che usa il Nisseno in veste di “vescovo predicatore” per insegnare le congregazioni il mistero della divinità del Figlio e dello Spirito. Il contesto storico di queste omelie sono gli anni c.379-388, un decennio nel quale la controversia intorno alla divinità dello Spirito santo, in modo particolare, è molto forte, quindi uno studio del linguaggio omiletico risulta utile per comprendere meglio come l’insegamento ortodosso venne dato al popolo per chiarire le idee sbagliate che venivano diffuse.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Farrugia, Jonathan https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147654 2026-06-24T08:42:35Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Dante and the Ecclesial Paradox : rebuke, reverence, and redemption Authors: Farrugia, Jonathan Abstract: In the past hundred years, three pontiffs have written apostolic letters to commemorate anniversaries relating to Dante: in 1921, Benedict XV marked the sixth centenary of the death of the great poet; in 1965, Paul VI judged it opportune to write on the occasion of the seventh centenary of his birth; and in 2021, Pope Francis added his voice to the numerous others wishing to honour the memory of the supreme Florentine poet on the seventh centenary of his death. Each letter is a product of its time: one hundred years ago, the Pope—still confined within the Vatican and refusing to recognise the Kingdom of Italy due to the Roman Question—addressed his text “to the beloved sons, professors and pupils of literary institutes and centres of higher learning within the Catholic world”; Paul VI, in full accord with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council and its vision of a Church seeking collaboration with the world, addressed his writing to Dante scholars more broadly, and within the same letter, together with other academic authorities, established the Chair of Dante Studies at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan; Pope Francis today, in his outward-facing style of evangelisation, challenges everyone to (re)read Dante, whose teaching remains relevant seven hundred years after his death. Despite the differing political contexts and ecclesial agendas, Benedict XV, Paul VI, and Pope Francis are united on one point: Dante is a Christian poet—critical of the Church, certainly, but loyal to his faith and desirous of a religious institution that is more serious and less corrupt. This brief study presents the homage which the Church, today, seven centuries later, renders to this Poet—now widely recognised as a passionate witness of an arduous and active faith, in pursuit of justice and freedom.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z