Georgetown Partners with Vatican, Pope Francis on Initiatives Across the University

Brady Masih (SFS'25) had been on a pilgrimage to Rome before. This October, though, he returned to the Vatican with a different goal: to see the inner workings of the Catholic Church.

Masih was part of a Georgetown delegation observing and engaging with the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, an advisory body for the papal office. Throughout the week, participants met with Vatican officials, brainstormed ways for the Church to engage in modern issues and witnessed how Church leaders make decisions.

As a theology minor, Masih wanted to get a firsthand look at how the Church conducts its internal business from a policy and legal perspective.

The Georgetown delegation at the synod visiting the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and meeting Msgr. Indunil Kodithuwakku, the dicastery's secretary.

"What drove me to the synod was I was interested in seeing the discernment process in the Church," Masih said. "How does the Church decide in what direction it wants to move in terms of its approach to various social issues?"

The trip to the synod is just one of several ongoing Georgetown initiatives connected with the Vatican and Pope Francis.

"We are proud of our longstanding engagement with the Vatican and Pope Francis as we seek out new ways to live out our Catholic and Jesuit mission," said Thomas Banchoff, Georgetown's vice president for global engagement.

Young People in the Church

Masih traveled to Rome with four other Georgetown students, as well as Vanessa Corcoran, an advising dean, and Annie Selak, director of the Women's Center.

The Georgetown cohort, which was funded by a gift from Stephanie Park (C'92, G'92), was part of a larger group of 150 students, campus ministers and educators from 15 Catholic colleges and universities across the U.S. - collectively, the group makes up the Catholic Education Network to Experience Rome and Synodality (CENTERS). Georgetown helped create this grassroots initiative to train and inspire young leaders in the Church.

"One of the most important learnings from the experience in the synod is that we plant seeds," Selak said. "Our impact is not linear or direct. As an ecclesiologist, I see how change in the Church takes time and interesting turns. We are in the midst of such a turn right now."

The Georgetown cohort at the synod on the rooftop of the Jesuit Curia with Rev. James Martin, S.J., who is also a member of Georgetown's Board of Directors.

During their week in Rome, students broke into small groups to discuss issues on the synod's agenda, from migration to climate justice and interfaith engagement. The trip also included a visit to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and a meeting with Msgr. Indunil Kodithuwakku, the dicastery's secretary. The students also met Vatican bishops and synod delegates and toured the Jesuit Curia, the headquarters of the Society of Jesus, located just blocks from St. Peter's Basilica.

The students also had a close-up encounter with Pope Francis during his weekly General Audience, where the pope reiterated his dedication to peace and interreligious understanding.

"It was particularly special to me to hear how smoothly the ceremony transitioned from speeches in English to Italian to Spanish to German and to Arabic, reminding me of the truly global Church that I am a part of," wrote Alejandra Cova (H'26) in a blog postreflecting on her journey to the synod.

Alejandra Cova (H'26) (middle), Brady Masih (SFS'25) (far right) and other members of the Georgetown delegation at the synod during Pope Francis' weekly General Audience.

At the end of their week, the secretariat of the synod invited the students into the Paul VI Audience Hall for a dialogue with synod leadership. Cova had the opportunity to speak to the delegates and asked why disengaged young people should care about synodality and how to address people who have been hurt by the Church.

"To speak directly to all those delegates in the Vatican was an experience that I definitely did not predict in my 2024 bingo card. I never imagined that I would be able to ask this question about pain, about exclusion, which was so close to my heart, to leaders with such high power to rectify this for others who feel the same way," she said.

For Masih, witnessing the synod in action as a young layperson is a sign of progress for the Church, but there's still more to do, he said.

"I think it's good the Vatican is trying to put more active efforts in including laity in conversations within the Church," Masih said. "It was nice I was able to partake in these conversations, but at the same time … where can we go from here? I think this synod on synodality is a good starting point for increased lay involvement in the Church."

Kim Daniels, director of Georgetown's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, was one of the lay participants in the synod. Daniels, a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, was appointed to serve as an expert advisor for the synod and as the coordinator of the synod study group on the Church's mission in the digital environment. Last March, Daniels and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life hosted a major day-long synodal gathering with Vatican and U.S. Church leaders on "The Synod, Lay Leadership, and the Social Mission of the Church."

The experience at the synod is part of the Catholic Church's larger global effort to get young people more involved and fulfill the synod's priority of creating a "preferential option for young people."

"Don't forget that the important thing is pastoral care, both the intellectual pastoral care, which is fundamental, and the pastoral care related to being close to young people," Pope Francis said in an interview in Jakartathis summer, in which he spoke to Jesuits about formation.

"For example, I have relations studying at … Georgetown. The Jesuits have organized a good system, and the students have a good spiritual, intellectual and community formation."

Advocating for Children's Health

In addition to the synod, Georgetown leaders, faculty, staff and students have participated and are working with the Vatican on a variety of initiatives.

In September, Georgetown's Global Health Institute (GUGHI) joined a new papal initiativeto create a worldwide network that provides medical care for children and supports health care workers in the field.

Georgetown's initial role in the Pope's Global Alliance for the Health and Humanitarian Care of Childrenwill be to provide technical support. The support will include sharing guidance and best practices so that participating hospitals worldwide are best positioned to plan, receive and provide comprehensive care to children.

Pope Francis received Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., executive vice president for health sciences, during a visit to the Vatican on Sept. 19. Photo courtesy of © Vatican Media.

Georgetown leaders - including Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., executive vice president for health sciences; GUGHI Director Dr. Deus Bazira; and Dr. Michael Donnelly, chair of the Georgetown Department of Pediatrics - attended the launch event for the Pope's Global Alliance for the Health and Humanitarian Care of Children in Rome.

"There are so many children who are suffering in silence, and many organizations who are positioned to bring hope and healing to them," said Beauchamp. "Georgetown has a recognized expertise in building in-country capacity. It's creating this sustainability that will ensure access to best care today and into the future."

Promoting Christian Ecumenism

Panelists at the Walking Together in Faith and Mission on Oct. 2, 2024.

This fall, Georgetown hosted the Steering Committee for the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission for a planning meeting co-sponsored by the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Anglican Communion. Attending the meeting were bishops from the Catholic Church, Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion.

As part of the visit, participants held an ecumenical vespers prayer service for Christian unity in Dahlgren Chapel. The steering committee, in partnership with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, also hosted a public event on Anglican-Catholic ecumenism, sharing their methodology to promote Christian unity in everyday life in their churches.

Developing a Culture of Encounter

In 2021, Georgetown launched the Culture of Encounter Project, a collaboration with multiple Vatican dicasteries rooted in Pope Francis' 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti- the papal document that called for the development of a "culture of encounter capable of transcending our differences and divisions."

Georgetown leaders presented at the Culture of Encounter: An Imperative for a Divided World conference on May 27-28, 2022, which was hosted by the university and the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica.

In the first phase of the project, Georgetown gathered 30 scholars and practitioners from around the world to explore what a culture of encounter looks like from a theoretical and practical perspective across disciplines and professions. As part of this effort, Georgetown co-hosted two conferences in Rome with the Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica, held multiple online events and published several working papers.

In an open letter in L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis commended Georgetown and La Civiltà Cattolica for the Culture of Encounter convening.

"I thank you, then, for your efforts to reflect on a crucial issue for our world," Pope Francis wrote. "Through your lectures, articles and joint initiatives, you are helping so many others to become adepts and artisans of a culture that fosters mutual understanding."

Now in its second phase, the project is developing deeper interfaith collaboration, particularly on issues related to children and displaced persons, and is supporting student dialogues on the practice of human fraternity and global citizenship. The project is also developing a book project on the contributions of Pope Francis to Catholic thought.

This November, as part of the project, the Collaborative on Global Children's Issues, in partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, is coordinating a private workshop and public event about being young in America. The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs is also hosting a conference on religious responses to refugees.

Theology Professors Peter Phan and Andrew Prevot from the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as John Borelli, special assistant to the president who manages Georgetown's relations with the Vatican, also sent recommendations to the Dicastery for Culture and Education in anticipation of a major theological congress in December.

Catholicism and the Arts

The Culture of Encounter Project builds on other Georgetown initiatives focused on artists who explore the religious dimension of contemporary society. In the Faith & Culture series, Paul Elie, a senior fellow at the Berkley Center, invites artists to engage in public conversations on campus. Past guests include film director Martin Scorsese; poets Christian Wiman and Tracy K. Smith; and novelists Marilynne Robinson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jonathan Franzen.

Georgetown has also developed a relationship with the newly organized Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education, just as Georgetown had with the Pontifical Council for Culture, its predecessor office in the Roman Curia, and has joined with these in several projects beginning with the Faith, Culture and the Common Good conferencein 2014 on the Hilltop.

After a visit to the Dicastery for Culture and Education by Georgetown President John J. DeGioia in May 2023, Georgetown joined the dicastery in its effort to engage Catholic authors of fiction and poetry whose work is shaped by a Catholic intellectual and artistic engagement with modern culture.

As part of this effort, Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., Georgetown's vice president for mission and ministry, hosted the Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination conferenceat the Villa Malta, the headquarters of the La Civiltà Cattolicain Rome, bringing in authors and artists from around the world to share the spiritual and religious dimensions of their work.

At the Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination conference in May 2023.

"We are grateful to the Vatican and Pope Francis for their hospitality and collaboration with such a variety of programs," Bosco said. "We are eager to continue working with the Holy See and the global church to address the important issues of our time and further realize our Catholic mission."

Ongoing Engagement

Among the other partnerships and engagements at the Vatican include a memorandum of understanding with the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI), an educational institution managed by the Dicastery for Culture and Education; a convening held in 2019 at Georgetown University - Qatarin partnership with the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life; and a 2017 national convening of academic centers focused on Catholic Social Thought, hosted by theInitiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Lifeat Georgetown in collaboration with the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Georgetown recently submitted an action plan around sustainabilityas part of a Laudato Si' initiative launched by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Many of these engagements are facilitated and supported by a staff member who is responsible for the university's Rome office, Debora Tonelli. Tonelli works with the Office of the President each year to host a reception for the many Georgetown alumni and partners in Rome to celebrate the deep relationships that have been developed over the years.