Francis: The First Latin American Pope

 Latino/Latin American Studies Program Spring 2016 Lecture Series  

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013, his status as the “first Latin American pope” was hailed as a triumph for Latin American Catholics and, more generally, Catholics residing in the third world. But what does it mean to be a “Latin American pope”? How has Pope Francis’ pontificate—and, in particular, the changes in tone and agenda he has brought to the Catholic Church—been shaped by his experiences in Latin America? How has the history of Latin American Catholicism been shaped by Pope Francis? This lecture will answer these and other questions by examining the “Francis Revolution” in the broader historical, theological, and political context of both Latin America and the universal Catholic Church as a whole.

Dr. Erika Helgen
Collegeville Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow

Erika Helgen is a postdoctoral fellow at the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. She received her Ph.D. in Latin American History from Yale University in 2015 and is currently working on a book manuscript, “Holy Wars: Protestants, Catholics, and the Struggle for Brazilian National Identity, 1916-1945.”