Theology of the peripheries, Theology of the People: A Conversation with Dr. Emilce Cuda

What Matters Most

Welcome to the sixteenth episode of season 2 of What Matters Most. I spoke to Dr. Emilce Cuda, an Argentinian theologian, university professor, and Roman Curia official. In 2021, Pope Francis appointed her to serve the Holy See as an official in the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, first as head of the office and then as Secretary. In the spring of 2022, Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and to the Pontifical Academy for Life. She views her mission as assisting the Holy Father in preaching the gospel by building bridges that are about the peripheries.

Born in Buenos Aires, Emilce completed a cycle of studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina that resulted in Bachelor, Master, Licentiate, and Ph.D./STD degrees. She also studied philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires. She has an MBA from the Commercial and Economic Sciences University. In December 2022 the National University of Rosario in Argentina bestowed upon her a Doctorate of Humane Letters in honoris causa.

She has taught in various professorial capacities in a number of Argentinian universities, Boston College, DePaul, Northwestern, the National University Arturo Juaretche, and others.

Emilce is married with two adult children. She is one of the very few lay women to hold executive office in the Roman Curia. She has been based at the Vatican since September 2022.

I first met Emilce Cuda in Vancouver when she gave one of the keynote lectures at the Pope Francis conference in May 2023. She is a speaker who brings the fire, which aligns with the nickname Pope Francis gave her, the Vatican pepper. I was also able to spend time with her at CELAM in Bogota, Columbia when I was invited as a Canadian representative for a conference comprising mostly South and Central American and Caribbean theologians and artists discussing theology of the peripheries. On this episode, you will get a sense of what she means by theology of the peripheries and closely related terms such as theology of the people and liberation theology. It’s a joyous occasion to speak with Dr. Emilce Cuda and I hope you find that same joy listening to her.

Emilce Cuda asks people who want to understand Pope Francis in North America to read the encyclicals, read Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, read Praedicate Evangelium on the Roman Curia, where our mission is described as in the Gospels to touch the suffering flesh of humanity.

She also directed us to her and Pope Francis’s professor, the late Juan Carlos Scannone, S.J., an Argentinian theologian and his work on theology of the people, though I have not been able yet to determine which book of his she was referring to. I will add that to the show notes when I hear back from Emilce, but in the meantime the link above is a nice overview of his theology. Emilce Cuda also noted the work of another Jesuit, Juan Luis Segundo, S.J. and I have linked to an overview of his life and work from the Boston College website.

This was a great conversation because it encapsulates for me what Christian theology should be. It’s good to know Dr. Cuda is at the Vatican doing her work because for me she is a model theologian, paying attention to all of the theologians out there who do not write books but need to be heard.

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation.

Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series.

Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at [e-mail]. Let us know what you think.

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Upcoming Episodes:

And now some news on upcoming podcast episodes:

Dr. Alexandre Martins of Marquette University on healthcare justice and his life that began in poverty in Brazil;

Dr. Joanna Leidenhag of the University of Leeds, who spoke to me about panpsychism;

Dr. Hans Abdiel Harmakaputra, of the department of religion, philosophy & classics at Augustana University;

Mr. Inderjeet Singh, Sikh chaplain at UBC.

Finally, a recent lecture is now available on YouTube:

On February 29, Dr. Niigaan Sinclair joined us from Winnipeg to speak about the Pope’s apology and what are the necessary next steps in truth and reconciliation. This lecture was dynamite and challenging. Watch it!

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC