With Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, we breathe deeply the air of “Mare Nostrum,” the Mediterranean Sea, where the scents of North and South, East and West, mingle. When he was in charge of education in his diocese of Marseille, theology was for him an instrument of dialogue with the diverse human and religious experiences of which the “Phocaean city” is a cosmopolitan exemplar.
Originally from Sidi-Bel-Abbès, in Algeria, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, which was French at the time, he became a priest and theologian in Marseille and founded an Institute for Study of Theology of Religions, part of the “Institut Catholique de la Méditerranée,” before being appointed archbishop in 2019 and cardinal in 2022. Through his ministry and thought, he embodies the “Theology of the Mediterranean,” outlined by Pope Francis.
With the profound simplicity of a pastor and the warmth of a son of the South, he answers some questions. |
© Union of Catholic Asian News
2023
