This talk is framed in an ecumenical climate in which Renato, a Protestant theologian, contemplates the events that are happening these years in the Catholic Church. Following the scene of Philip who gets into the carriage of the Ethiopian eunuch to explain to him the passage from Isaiah that he is not able to understand (Acts 8, 26-39), Renato leads us through this scene, in the middle of a dialogue between opposites, to show us in a simple and pedagogical way this time of God, the Kairos that the Catholic Church lives. After baptizing the eunuch, Philip was caught up by the Spirit and disappeared, but the eunuch continued on his way joyfully. Renato makes a theological exegesis, looking from outside the Catholic Church, at the path followed by the wandering people with sexual and gender diversity, who in their militancy, day after day head towards the promised land. A group that feels belonging to a Church that with its timid steps forces it, in the midst of rage, to confess its faith in the God of Jesus. Renato shows us a grateful memory of the joint journey of the Catholic Church and these groups, “Pilgrims of Hope”, invited to cross the holy door of the Jubilee 2025.
Renato Lings It is a prayerful presence within CRISMHOM. Not only is he part of this community, but he has given numerous training sessions sharing his own testimony of encountering God and his passion for the Bible. He has worked as an interpreter in the European Parliament, as a professor at the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana and as a researcher at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education (England). In 2011 he published in Spanish Bible and homosexuality Did the translators make a mistake? and in 2013 in English Love Lost in Translation: Homosexuality and the Bible. In 2018 he wrote the prologue to Carlos Osma’s book titled Only a Fag Jesus can save us: Christian reflections in a gay key. In 2020, Renato contributes to the volume Homosexualities and Christianity in the 21st century (Editorial Dykinson, Madrid) the essay The heart revealed. Reflections on Leviticus. In 2021, Renato publishes his book Biblical loves under censorship. Sexuality, gender and mistranslations (2023, Dykinson, Madrid). More recently, in the anthology Sexual diversity and Christianity in the 21st century (2023, Dykinson, Madrid), his essay appears Patriarch Job and the LGTBIQ collective and just published his latest book, Bible, gender and sexuality in 100 words (2025, Abyad, 2025).