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European Theological Reflection Group: “Understanding Today’s Challenges”
Friday, February 6, 2026
The journey of the European Theological Reflection Group (GERT) continues in the new year. The meeting in Verona (2-4 February) was meant to address a number of issues related to social and religious changes in Europe. For various reasons, only a few members were able to be present in person and to share the results of their research. [From left to right in the photo: Fathers Paolo Latorre, Moses Otii, Giuseppe Caramazza, and Fernando González Galarza]
Fr Moses Otii, parish priest and formator of the formation community in Graz, presented his research on the origins of violence in our society. Fr Paolo Latorre offered his own reading of the change in the social paradigm, drawing on his previous reflections and on Pope Francis’s invitation to grasp the importance of such a change in our time. Fr Justino Martínez Pérez proposed a way of reading and using the Bible pastorally, especially with reference to a pastoral presence in Europe aimed at reaching those who are not yet part of the community of faith.
Among the proposals considered by the participants, a programme of study on interculturality stands out; young confrères in formation in Europe will also take part in it. Interculturality is a major challenge for our increasingly multicultural societies, but it is also a challenge for the Comboni Missionaries themselves. The Comboni Institute is in fact becoming ever more international, with a growing presence of confrères from Africa and some Asian countries. Working together, bearing witness to the faith together and committing ourselves to the transformation of our communities in harmony and unity of purpose is, therefore, an important task.
Further meetings will take place in 2026, including the Limone Symposium, scheduled for next June.
Fr Giuseppe Caramazza, mccj