Undergraduate Student Research Poster Presentations 
Each year, undergrads from DePaul’s Catholic Studies courses submit a research poster on that year’s World Catholicism Week topic/theme. The top 8-10 are selected by their professors to present their research posters in this public, interactive session before the academic conference itself kicks off. Three of our conference speakers will serve as respondents, speaking individually with the students about their research during the public presentation and then coming together to offer their comments on each student’s work in a “feedback session.” This year’s respondents are:

• Shannen Dee Williams  
• Emilce Cuda
• Daniel P. Castillo 
   

Welcome & Opening Remarks 

• William T. Cavanaugh—Director of CWCIT, DePaul University
• Rob Manuel—President of DePaul University 

OPENING PANEL—Pope Leo and a Global Gift Exchange

• Afe Adogame (Princeton Theological Seminary)— "Africa is No Longer a Little Child!" Pope Leo XIV’s Papacy & Global Religious (Re)imagination
• Emilce Cuda (Pontifical Commission for Latin America)
• Christopher White (Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought & Public Life)—"From Missionary Priest to Missionary Pope" 

Moderator:  Kathleen Sprows Cummings (Professor of History & American Studies; Director of Global Catholic Research Initiative—University of Notre Dame)  

PANEL—The Biography of Leo XIV

• Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández (Catholic Theological Union)—"Baseball and a Pope from Chicago: Cultivating Theologies of Encounter in a Language of Lo Popular”
• César Piscoya (CELAM)—The Augustinian Spirituality of Pope Leo in Practice and in Dilexi Te
• Shannen Dee Williams (University of Dayton)—"What Pope Leo XIV's Suppressed Creole Heritage Can Teach Us About the American Catholic Experience and Its Foundational African Roots”

Moderator: Stan Chu Ilo (CWCIT Senior Research Professor & Professor of Catholic Studies—DePaul University) 

PANEL—Pope Leo and Catholic Social Teaching

• Michael J. Baxter (University of Notre Dame)—"Americanism Between the Two Pope Leos: Misguided Movement, Erroneous Doctrine, Phantom Heresy, and Tragic Tradition”
• Steven P. Millies (Catholic Theological Union)—"New Life for the Consistent Ethic: ‘A Global Ethic of Solidarity’ from Chicago to Chiclayo to Rome and Back”
• Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula, SJ (Arrupe Center for Research & Formation)—"Human Dignity, Historical Responsibility, and Ecological Justice: Africa's Expectations for Pope Leo XIV” 

Moderator: William T. Cavanaugh (CWCIT Director & Professor of Catholic Studies—DePaul University)  

PANEL—Pope Leo's Agenda

• Daniel P. Castillo (Loyola University Marymount)—"Gardening in a Valley of Dry Bones: Politico-Ecological Love in Pope Leo’s Papacy”
• Philip Larrey, SJ (Boston College)—"Pope Leo and the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence”
• Paola Ugaz (Diario ABC ; coauthor of Mitad Monjes, Mitad Soldados)—From Francis to Leo XIV: How the Catholic Church Addressed the Issue of Abuse in the Sodalitium Case 

Moderator: TBD