The New Mission of Theology According to Pope Francis

The article focuses on presenting the new mission of theology according to Pope Francis. This novelty is primarily related to the missionary orientation of the Church and the definition of the Church as a community that is “on the way” and “setting out on the way” i.e. sent to all people and reaching out to the peripheries and places forgotten by the world. In this missionary orientation of the Church, Pope Francis sees the possibility of renewing theology, because theology is considered by him as a study that is at the service of the Church and its mission. Therefore, the Pope encourages theologians to do theology in the perspective of the Church’s missionary commitment in order to ensure that the theology they create is a reflection which reaches out to the “borders” and to the “peripheries”, as well as to the “entire cultures”. Hence theologians should seek new signs, new symbols and new ways of transmitting the Gospel, as well as they should enter into dialogue with other sciences to better explain the truth of faith and with concepts that today’s people can understand. The first point presents the challenges that, according to Pope Francis, contemporary theology faces. The second, in turn, discusses the tasks that it has to fulfill today. The summary presents the conclusions which result from the analysis of the papal documents devoted to the issue of the new mission of theology.