INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION
FORGIVENESS INSTITUTE
The International Congress on Forgiveness and Reconciliation brings together professionals and academics from different parts of the world to reflect from an interdisciplinary, philosophically inspired perspective on the issues of forgiveness and reconciliation. It will take place from March 24-26, 2025 at the Francisco de Vitoria University (Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid). The conference will be held in both English and Spanish and simultaneous translation will be provided in both languages. The congress will be held in hybrid mode, with the possibility of attending in person and online.
If the 20th century was characterized by overwhelming violence, the new century, with an accelerated historical pace and societies in the presence of each other and technologically connected, has brought or has definitely highlighted other forms of barbarism that undermine coexistence. Terrorisms, health and energy crises, proliferation of technologies that isolate people, environmental problems, gender violence and abuses… have as an added consequence new forms of social and economic exclusion, pathologies and disorders. From an interdisciplinary approach, it seems increasingly clear that a reflection aimed at clarifying and offering solutions to these new forms of violence cannot be developed without an action and therefore a study aimed at formulating the possibilities of forgiveness and reconciliation, fundamental associative principles of any society, which allows to preserve it from its disintegration.
Congress venue: Salón de Grados. Central Building. Module 2. Universidad Francisco de Vitoria.
The emergence of a thematic attention of philosophy towards forgiveness has taken place in the second half of the 20th century and, although its literature is not yet particularly varied, with contributions coming mainly from Anglo-Saxon thought and, occasionally, from phenomenology, it has come to speak, in general terms, of a “philosophy of forgiveness” (Lewis -ed.- The philosophy of forgiveness, ed. Lewis, 4 Vols. 2016, 2017). With a broader historical journey, forgiveness has been the subject of theological studies and has recently aroused the interest of scientific psychology. Sociological reflections also aimed at understanding historical phenomena are increasingly present in contemporary societies.
The Congress Forgiveness and Reconciliation aims to offer an interdisciplinary reflection on the meaning, conditions and scope of forgiveness in human life, in all its cultural dimensions, i.e. socio-historical and concrete knowledge, in view of the emergence of the possibility of reconciliation.
THEMATIC AND METHODICAL AREAS
- Area 1: Agents of forgiveness. The question of mediation. The encounter between philosophy and theology of forgiveness.
- Area 2: Forgiveness and culture. The influence of the historical-social conditions of forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Area 3: Forgiveness and reconciliation in sexual violence determined by situations of abuse of power and authority.
Appropriate methodologies: theoretical reflection on the thematic areas, hermeneutic-textual analysis, case analysis.
In this congress, only academic oral communication proposals will be accepted and those that do not comply with the deadlines or formal requirements established by the organizing committee will not be accepted.
The criteria of the scientific committee for the selection of participants for the subsequent academic publication of the results of the congress will be:
- That the contribution fits the theme of the Congress and the thematic areas described above.
- That the contribution is of high academic quality and that the foreseeable impact in the field is high.
- That the proposal is novel.
ONLINE AUDIENCE AND WITHOUT CERTIFICATE
Free
PAYMENTS
€70
€30
€20
€35
GROUP
Audience that does not participate with communication, but would like a certificate.
Doctors whose proposal of communication has been approved by the scientific committee.
Postgraduate students whose proposal of communication has been approved by the scientific committee.
Online audience who do not participate with communication, but want a certificate
The scientific committee will receive the communication proposals and will evaluate if they meet the formal and thematic criteria of the congress. If not, the author of the proposal will be informed. In the affirmative case, a blind peer review process will be initiated, the result of which, accompanied by a report, will be communicated to the author within a maximum period of two weeks.
- March 14, 2025 – Deadline for communication proposals.
- March 20, 2025 – Deadline for registration to the congress.
- March 24-26, 2025 – Celebration of the International Congress Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
Organizing Committee
- Francesco de Nigris (Chair)
- Mariele Wulf (Co-Chair)
- Higinio Marín Cánovas
- Santiago Jared Delgado
- Ignacio Sánchez-Portillo
- Gabriel Rodríguez-Rey
- Joan Vianney Domingo
- Felipe Roca Wick
Scientific Committee
- Andrea Bellantone (Chairman)
- Piero Coda
- Carla Canullo
- Giulio Maspero
- John Milbank
- Mátyás Szalay
- Clara Molinero
- Saray Bonete
Monday, March 24, 2025
- 14:00h-16:00h. Reception
- 16:00h-16:15h. Welcome – Prof. Clara Molinero (Director of the Institute of Forgiveness), and Prof. Francesco de Nigris (Director of the Forgiveness and Reconciliation Congress)
- 16:15h-17:00h. Opening of the congress with keynote speech:
– “Unforgivable Sacrifice”, Prof. Joseph Cohen - 17:00h-17:30h. Coffee break
- 17:30h-19:00h. Lectures:
– “From Justification to Forgiveness: With and Beyond Jean Nabert”, Prof. Carla Canullo
–“Forgiving the Unforgivable”, Prof. Mátyás Szalay
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
- 9:30h-11:00h. Lectures:
– “Forgiveness, repentance, sociality” Prof. Mariano Crespo
–“The challenge of forgiveness” Prof. Hugo Strandberg
- 11:00h-11:30h. Coffee break
- 11:30h-13:30h. Pro+tejer Chair round table. Moderator: Prof. María Rosario González Martín (Cátedra Pro+Tejer, Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
– “La eternidad desciende al tiempo”, Prof. Miguel García-Baró
– “Forgiving – the Last Thing to Do…”, Prof. Mariele Wulf - 13:30h. Lunch
- 15:30h-17:00h. Lectures:
– “The Urgency of Conversion and Penance in the Face of the Impending Apocalypse”, Prof. Ángel Barahona
– “Guilt and Forgiveness: A Thomistic Approach”, Prof. Eleonore Stump
- 17:00h-17:30h. Coffee break
- 17:30h-17:45h. Presentation of the “Discover Forgiveness site” of Templeton World Charity Foundation
- 17:45h-18:30h Presentation:
– “Psalm 22: Lamentation, Poetic Imagination and Forgiveness”, Prof. René Dentz
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
- 9:30h-11:00h. Lectures:
– “ETA victims and their historical-social conditions for forgiveness: the case of ‘Patria’ (2016)”, Prof. Álvaro Abellán
– “Forgiveness and Remembrance” Prof. Paula Satne - 11:00h-11:30h. Coffee Break
- 11:30h-13:00h. Closing Conference:
– “Les temps du pardon”, Prof. Andrea Bellantone - 13:00h. Lunch
- 15:00h-17:00h. Round table communications
– 15:00-15:12 Dra.Carmen Callizo, Dr. Martiño Rodríguez González and Dra. María Calatrava “The Psychological Foundations of Divine Forgiveness in Spanish-Speaking Catholics”
– 15:12 -15:24 Dr. Josu Ahedo Ruiz “Personal Acceptance as a Condition for Learning to Forgive and Ask for Forgiveness “
– 15:24-15:36 Andrés Benayas Del Río “Viktor Frankl: Collective Guilt and Forgiveness as a Foundation of Hope after the Concentration Camps.”
-15:36-15:48 Grecia de Jesús “Quality of life in older people and related variables: forgiveness and self-esteem”
– 15:48-16:08 Questions
– 16:08 -16:20 Anna Mariela González De Abreu, Dra. Clara Molinero Caparrós and Dra. Saray Bonete Román “Systematic Review of Competence Interventions in Prison Subjects and Proposal for Training in Self Forgiveness”
– 16:20-16:32 Dra. Claudia Baaken “Forgiveness and its role in our current culture”
– 16:32- 16:44 Dr. María Dolores García-Arnaldos “The social dimension of forgiveness”
– 16:44-17:00 Questions
- 17:00h-17:30h. Coffee-break
- 17:30h-19:30h. Round table communications
– 17:30-17:42 Alicia Beneite Almeida and Dr. Pilar González Rivero “El perdón como fuerza de revitalización del ser humano.”
– 17:42-17:54 David Bazaco Palacios “Culpabilidad Transcendente: A Response to Dostoevsky from the Thought of Taymans D’eypernon”
– 17:54-18:06 Dr. Isabel González Sosa e Dr. Saray Bonete Román “The Psychological Value of Forgiveness”
– 18:06-18:18 Dr. Juan Pablo Martínez Martínez “The gesture of forgiveness: beyond all excuses”
– 18:18-18:38 Questions
– 18:38-18:50 Ana de Haro Arbona “Getting out of a dynamic of limit and evil. Notes to the story of Dostoevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor with recourse to Maldiney”
– 18:50-19:02 Dr. Carmen Sanchez Carazo “Psychological and Spiritual Harassment: The Transforming Power of Forgiveness”
– 19:02- 19:14 Maricruz Zambrana Jirash “Memory and Reconciliation in the case of the Spanish exile in Mexico”
– 19:14-19:30 Questions
- 19:30h. Farewell Prof. Francesco de Nigris (Director of the Congress Forgiveness and Reconciliation)
- Dr. Carla Canullo (Università degli Studi di Macerata)
- Dr. Mátyás Szalay (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Saint John Paul II. Research Center)
- Dr. Mariano Crespo (University of Navarra)
- Dr. Joseph Cohen (University College Dublin)
- Dra. María Rosario González Martín (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Cátedra Pro+Tejer)
- Dr. Paula Satne (University of Leeds)
- Dr. Andrea Bellantone (Institut Catholique de Toulouse, La Chaire Philosophie du Christianisme)
- Dr. Claudia Mariéle Wulf (Université Saint-Paul, The Centre for Safeguarding Minors and Vulnerable Persons)
- Dr. René Dentz (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais)
- Dr. Miguel García-Baró (Real Academia de las Ciencias Morales y Políticas)
- Dr. Álvaro Abellán (Universidad Francisco Vitoria Dr. Ángel Barahona (Universidad Francisco Vitoria, Chair of Fundamental Theology) Álvaro Abellán (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria)
- Dr. Ángel Barahona (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Chair of Fundamental Theology)
- Dr. Eleonore Stump (Robert J. Henle, SJ, Professor of Philosophy Saint Louis University)
- Dr. Hugo Strandberg (Åbo Akademi University