Theological Discovery and Future Perspectives of the Dogmatic Datum of the Poor as a Theological Place

Abstract

There are serious reasons to argue that with Evangelii Gaudium by Pope Francis, the magisterium of the Catholic Church has finally come to fully acknowledge the function of the locus theologicus played by the poor. This study constitutes the second of two articles devoted to the subject. Firstly, it delineates the journey, not lacking in opposition and ambiguity, that theology has carried out without which the magisterium could hardly have reached such conclusions. Then, it attempts to highlight the fundamental reasons that underlie the role of theological place the poor play within theology, and proposes new research pathways in which the poor can help us to perform the three following tasks: to understand more appropriately the divine attribute of simplicity, to discover the direction history assumes because of its eschatological orientation, and finally to overcome those ecclesiologies that have allowed clericalism to progressively establish itself within the Christian community.