The first edition of the "Évora Spirituality Encounters" brought together about 150 people who, throughout the day, were able to reflect on the theme of death, starting from different approaches. With the support of the CLC-Além-Tejo and the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation, the Jesuits of Évora hope to organise this meeting every two years.
The opening of the meeting was attended by the Archbishop of Évora, Bishop Francisco Senra Coelho and the welcoming words of Fr. Alberto Brito, sj, superior of the Jesuit community in Évora. The first conference of the day was given by Walter Osswald, who spoke of "death and the fear of speaking of it", underlining that "it is important to prepare for death and for this it is necessary to think about dying. In the following moment, tracing an itinerary of the representation of death throughout the history of art, José Alberto Machado, from the University of Évora, made an intervention starting from the theme "Re(a)presentar a morte".
In the afternoon, it was possible to participate in an interdisciplinary debate in which death was treated from psychological, philosophical and theological perspectives. This discussion was raised by the interventions of Isabel Mesquita and Teresa Santos, from the University of Évora, and Fr. António Vaz Pinto, sj. The day ended with a conference by Fr. Vasco Pinto de Magalhães, sj entitled "Death does not kill". In his speech, the Jesuit said that "we are in process, continuously dying physically, but it is not from this dying that we should fear, the great death is the end of relationships. There are three great things that kill us: the break with the transcendent, which destroys our ability to love and be loved, and the loss of a place in life".
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