Collaboration between the Catholic Institute of Paris and the International Centre for Missionary Animation continues in 2026

The study and research trip to Rome for Master's and PhD students of the Catholic Institute of Paris who study Missiology and the History of the Church and Interreligious Dialogue is also planned for 2026. This important Parisian institution has been collaborating with the International Centre for Missionary Animation for ten years in order to offer a selected multicultural group of students the opportunity to take part in a unique educational proposal. The students of the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Letters of the Catholic Institute of Paris, priests, men and women religious, and French-speaking laymen and women who participate in this experience have the opportunity to study and do field research by accessing some of the most prestigious archives in Rome. Twelve students took part in the training proposal last January. Prof. Catherine Marin, scientific delegate of the Historical Institute of the Missions of the Catholic Institute of Paris, and Prof. Fr. Gilles BERCEVILLE o.p. who is its director, accompanied them in Rome for a week.This project is part of CIAM's mission to support training activities aimed at deepening a specific subject in these areas.  The topics that are addressed by the students who prepare their project in detail by contacting the relevant Archives before their arrival are varied and deal with specific historical aspects of the Churches of Africa, Oceania or Asia, in particular that of the transition from missionary Church to indigenous Church in the 20th century.  Others address the issue of dialogue between Christianity and Islam in history, between Christianity and traditional religions (Samoa Islands). Participants this year were welcomed by the Historical Archive of Propaganda Fide, the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, the Marist Brothers Archive, the Library of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, the Archive of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) and the Archive of the Pontifical Mission Societies. The intense week of training also included some meetings to get to know the bodies of the Roman Curia at first hand, through personal encounters with leaders and/or experts in the field.The students also witnessed from CIAM's terrace the Holy Father's blessing on 6 January, the Solemnity of the Epiphany, perceiving at that very moment not only the beauty of what was taking place but also the privilege of living a unique experience of intellectual enrichment in the heart of the Church. The bond of friendship and gratitude of the Catholic Institute of Paris towards CIAM and its director, Fr Alessandro Brandi, not only continues in view of the appointment in January 2026 but will be enriched by a further stage next autumn when Fr Brandi is expected in Paris for a conference.