College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences > Centers & Institutes > Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology > World Catholicism Week

World Catholicism Week

​​​​World Catholicism Week 2025 May 1-2

   Signs of Hope: Finding Jubilee in a Fractured World

​ Breathe (2018) by Billie ​​Bond (www.BillieBondArt.com)
Ms. Bond's sculpture was inspired by the ancient Japanese art of "kintsugi." This technique for repairing broken pottery with gold offers a rich metaphor for hope in a fractured world.
    May 1-2, 2025
    (Chicago and livestream)

Register Now​



In his recent Spes Non Confundit ("Hope does not disappoint," Romans 5:5), Pope Francis declares hope the central message of the 2025 Jubilee year. In this conference, we will look for signs of hope amid mounting global challenges that drive many to anxiety, cynicism, and despair. Coming from a variety of disciplines, our speakers will discuss the following topics:

    • Theologies of hope
    • Politics, violence, and resistance
    • Caring for creation
    • Ecclesial practices of community and culture

Conference Speakers

  • KEYNOTE: Dylan Corbett (Hope Border Institute—El Paso, TX, USA) 
  • David Buckley (University of Louisville—Louisville, KY, USA)
  • Min-Ah Cho (Georgetown University—Washington, DC, USA)
  • Debra Dean Murphy (West Virginia Wesleyan College—Buckhannon, WV, USA)
  • Yara González-Justiniano (Vanderbilt Divinity School—Nashville, TN, USA)
  • Emmanuel Katongole (University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Keough School of Global Affairs—Notre Dame, IN, USA)
  • Léonard Katchekpele (Diocese of Speyer—Speyer, Germany | Catholic University of West Africa—Lomé, Togo)
  • Cesar Kuzma (Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná—Curitiba, Brazil)
  • Mwila Mulumbi (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development—London) 
  • Vien V. Nguyen, SCJ (U.S. Province, Priests of the Sacred Heart—Hales Corners, WI, USA) 
  • Elizabeth O'Donnell Gandolfo (Wake Forest University School of Divinity—Winston-Salem, NC, USA) 
  • Atalia Omer (University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs—Notre Dame, IN, USA)
  • Antonio D. Sison, CPPS (Catholic Theological Union—Chicago, IL, USA) 

Conference Organizers/Sponsors

Organized by DePaul University's Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology (CWCIT), World Catholicism Week is an annual event, now in its 16th year, that gathers scholars from around the world to explore a single topic. CWCIT is grateful to its conference cosponsors here at DePaul: