Pope Francis and the Future of the Global Church

Francesco C. Cesareo, president of Assumption College, is an historian who specializes in Catholic higher education and the papacy during the Renaissance and Reformation periods. He is the author of two books and numerous articles on the Church during the Renaissance and Reformation era. Prior to his position at Assumption, he served as dean of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts at Duquesne University, and has taught at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, Albertus Magnus College, and John Carroll University. He has also served as the managing editor of Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, an international journal published by the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome and the Institute of Catholic Studies at John Carroll University. He received his B.A. from Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Late Medieval/Early Modern European history from Fordham University.

Richard Gaillardetz is the Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College. His research interests include topics in ecclesiology such as Vatican II, ecumenism, authority, and ministry. He previously held positions at the University of Toledo and at the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston. He has published numerous articles and has authored eight books (one volume was co-authored) and edited two others (one was co-edited). He has served on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), and in June 2013 became president of the CTSA. He has received numerous awards from the Catholic Press Association for articles he has written and is a past recipient of the Sophia Award (2000), offered annually by the faculty of the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., in recognition of a theologian’s contributions to the life of the church. He received a B.A. from the University of Texas and an M.A. in biblical theology at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. He recieved an M.A. and Ph.D. in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame.

María del Mar Muñoz-Visoso is executive director of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Between 2007-2012 she served as assistant director of Media Relations for the USCCB. Prior to that, she held various positions in the Archdiocese of Denver (1996-2007), including executive director of Centro San Juan Diego, director of Hispanic Ministry, and editor of El Pueblo Católico, the Spanish-language archdiocesan newspaper. Mar has a B.A. in communications from CEU San Pablo University in Valencia, Spain and a master of theological studies from Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan. She is married and the mother of three children.

M. Shawn Copeland is Professor of Systematic Theology in the Department of Theology in the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Boston College. Prior to returning to Boston College, where she earned a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology, she taught theology at St. Norbert College, Yale University Divinity School, and Marquette University. Copeland is recognized as one of the most important influences in North America in drawing attention to issues related to the religious, cultural, and social experience of African American Catholics. She has written more than 100 articles, reviews, and book chapters on such topics as theological anthropology, suffering, freedom, gender, and race. Copeland is the principal editor of Uncommon Faithfulness: the Black Catholic Experience (2009), author of The Subversive Power of Love: The Vision of Henriette Delille (2010), and Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race and Being (2010). Copeland is a former convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium (BCTS), an interdisciplinary learned society of Black Catholic scholars; and a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA).