The ReIReS project is nearing its end, but the scholarships are still being fully utilized. Read here what Adele Valeria Messina told us about her experiences during her stay in Leuven.

Interreligious Dialogue

Adele Valeria Messina, a scholar from the Università della Calabria, is conducting research on the interreligious dialogue. In particular, she is focusing on the “Confrontation” (1964) of Jewish Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik within the context of the Second Vatican Council’s De Libertate Religiosa. The project she came to study in Leuven addresses how Jewish thought can be better understood in the Catholic context of De Smedt, particularly: how their different theological positions – the one Jewish, the other Catholic – meet in the same years, 1960-1965.

Centre for the Study of the Second Vatican Council

Adele Valeria used the ReIReS scholarship for a stay at the Centre for the Study of the Second Vatican Council, where she got also acquainted with the digitization of the De Smedt archives. She also practiced the process of digitization herself.

The young scholarship recipient not only worked at the Centre, she also visited the wonderful cultural heritage of the university city Leuven like the beguinage.

Adele Valeria: “Thanks to the ReIReS fellowship TNA I can access the De Smedt papers very powerful for my research given that it (my research) is also about the legacy of the Nostra Aetate.”

We wish Adele Valeria every success in her continued research!