2021 Award O Romero Lueven Papellero

Theology Research News: The Archbishop Romero Prize 2021

By SVST

Congratulations, Ms. Ma. Karen Papellero for winning The Archbishop Romero Prize 2021!!!

Your SVST Family is very proud of you!

"The Romero Prize is awarded biannually to an MA thesis, PhD dissertation or monograph that attributes special attention to research in liberative, contextual, and critical theologies. The award of €1500 is organised especially by the Centre for Liberation Theologies (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven), in honour of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero (1917-1980). Archbishop Romero was killed by a right-wing death squad during the Salvadorian Civil War, and is considered a martyr; he was canonized as a Catholic saint in October of 2018 by Pope Francis. Archbishop Romero was also granted an Honorary Doctorate by the KU Leuven, which also honours his legacy with their annual “Romero Day” on March 24.

The winning Research Master thesis is “Hope in the Post-Traumatic?” by Ma. Karen Papellero. Her thesis was described by the jury as ‘a masterpiece of liberation theology’. The jury praised Papellero’s transdisciplinary approach, and her development of a ‘hermeneutics of hope’ in the midst of trauma. They described her thesis as innovative, promising and sophisticated, renewing liberation theology in its approach, especially with the inclusion of the Filipino context. Moreover, her criticism of previous trauma theories and her solution to this problem with her interdisciplinary approach, addressing the trauma of colonialism, led the jury to describe her thesis as ‘perfectly constructed’. Her creative, innovative, critical and hopeful thesis, then, was well-deserving of the prize."

We are so proud of how you are pursuing your dream! May God embrace you, and strengthen you in everything you do!



The full article can be accessed here:

 Theology Research News (Louvain): ...the Archbishop Romero Prize 2021