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Kresta in the Afternoon – February 2, 2024 – Hour 1

Guest Host Marcus Peter and Msgr. Michael Heintz discuss how Pope Benedict “broke the pattern” of previous popes and Xavier Symons reflects on the often-overlooked mental aspect of medicine. 

 

The Hostility of Illness and the Therapeutic Importance of Hospitality

The experience of illness can be isolating and alienating, and make us feel out of place in a world of healthy people. Modern medicine has done wonders in healing the physical aspects of a disease, but many still struggle to cope with the existential dimensions of the experience of disease or injury. Xavier Symons joins us with a solution.

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The Hostility of Illness and the Therapeutic Importance of Hospitality

Dr Xavier Symons is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. He is a philosopher who specialises in bioethics and the philosophy of wellbeing. He has written extensively about ethical issues at the end of life and the ethics of conscientious objection. He also has an ongoing interest in the role of virtues in healthcare practice. Xavier was recently appointed as Director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at the Australian Catholic University, a role that he will commence in April 2024.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Breaking of Patterns

The election of John Paul II broke a pattern. For more than a century, nearly every pontiff had been a trained papal diplomat. The papacies of John Paul II and Benedict set a new trend – they were scholars long before they were made Cardinals. We look at how Benedict’s theological background affected his approach to his papacy with Msgr. Michael Heintz.

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Pope Benedict XVI and the Breaking of Patterns

Msgr. Michael Heintz is academic dean and associate professor at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He joined the seminary faculty in 2016 after more than a decade at the University of Notre Dame, where he taught undergraduate courses in Theology and served as director of the Masters of Divinity program. His areas of study include historical theology and the history of spirituality.
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