The Pontifical Academy for Life has joined with the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute in a call for theologians to explore “the future of Christian thought” after the pandemic.

Announcing the initiative, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia cites the need “to let go of some clichés of a Christian era that is waning,” and says that the dialogue should be open to “believing intellectuals who are loyally willing to regard the Word of God—and the word “God”—as a common good and not as a private property.”

The archbishop did not explain why two Vatican bodies created to defend and promote the dignity of human life should take the lead in promoting what appears to be an open-ended ecumenical dialogue.