Rome Global Gateway introduces new inter-institutional course titled “Urbi et Orbi: Catholicism and the City of Rome”

The Rome Global Gateway (RGG), in collaboration with LUMSA University and Pontifical University St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), will launch the first edition of an innovative inter-university course entitled: “Urbi et Orbi: Catholicism and the city of Rome” in spring 2024.

Offered in preparation of the 2025 jubilee, the course aims to offer a historical and theoretical introduction to the city and to the role it has played and continues to play in the Catholic Church. The Latin expression “urbi et orbi” translates to “to the city and the world,” reflecting the course’s mission of considering the influence of the city of Rome on the Catholic Church and vice versa from a multiplicity of complementary perspectives.

“The course is aimed at a group of 30 participants (ten from each university),” explains Silvia Dall’Olio, director of the Rome Global Gateway, “with the objective of forming a cohort of students of different nationalities and academic backgrounds who desire to learn together and from each other about the treasures that Catholicism has received from the city of Rome and can now offer urbi et orbi.”

The course will start on February 19, 2024 and will conclude by May 2, 2024. It will include a combination of classroom lectures and guided site visits in the city of Rome, totaling 40 hours. The course will be taught by professor Donna Lynn Orsuto and will involve contributions from various teachers and experts.

In conversation with a selection of texts from the New Testament, Church Fathers, and recent Magisterial teaching, the course will explore how Christians lived and continue to live their faith in this city through the exploration of history, theology, art, and spirituality from the first centuries of the Church in Rome to today.

The monuments, art and architecture of Rome reveal important dimensions of how Christians lived in various ages. Participants in the course will discover how the theology of martyrdom shaped the lives of early believers and how the Apostles Peter and Paul became pivotal figures in the city, in the Church, and in the world. They will discover the importance of pilgrimage in Christian spirituality and especially in Rome. They will consider how the early Christians worshiped together in house churches, explore the significance of some exemplary male and female saints, reflect on the commitment of the early Christians to serving the poor, and consider how these impact both Catholicism and the city today.

Registrations for the course will open on November 13th, 2023.