We are proud to announce and celebrate that one of our own, our dear, Fr. Jorge Ferrer, SJ, member of the Jesuit community in Puerto Rico and collaborator of St. Ignatius Parish, has been invited by Pope Francis to serve on the International Theological Commission (ITC). The ITC exists under and to advise the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Members are appointed by the pope for five-year terms, during which a particular theological question is studied and the results published.
The International Theological Commission was instituted after the Second Vatican Council by Paul VI in 1969. Among the numerous investigations published by this renowned body, we highlight some of these:
- Religious freedom for the good of all (2019)
- Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria (2012)
- In Search of Universal Ethic: A New Look at the Natural Law (2009)
- Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past (2000)
- Christianity and the World Religions (1997)
About Fr. Ferrer
Fr. Ferrer has stood out as a prominent theologian specializing in profound topics, such as Bioethics. He has a doctorate in Moral Theology. He is the author of four books and co-editor of three other books. The most recent is Bioethics: the pluralism of the foundation (Madrid, 2016). He is also the author of numerous articles in his specialty. His most recent academic articles, published during the year 2020, are: Acts of God or Human Choices. An Ethical Reflection on “Natural” Disasters: Revista Iberoamericana de Bioética 14, 1 (2020); The ethical status of non-human animals in scientific research, in Vásquez, E. and Polo, M. (Eds.); Bioethics: a perspective from Latin America, Lima: Ruiz de Montoya University, 2020; Pandemic and inequality in Latin America, In: Amo, R. and de Montalvo, F. (Eds.); Humanity put to the test. Madrid: Comillas Pontifical University, 2020. In addition, in collaboration with S. Fábregas, R. Burgos and L. Ríos, Ethical prioritization of health services in times of pandemic: Argentine Journal of Jurisprudence. IV, No. 11 (2020).
He currently has two papers submitted for publication. He has taught at PUCPR, Spain, the United States and Italy. In April 2019 he was elected president of the Latin American Federation of Bioethics Institutions (FELAIBE) for the period from 2019 to 2021. In June of the same year he was appointed corresponding academician of the Pontifical Academy for Life of the Holy See.