Leonardo Boff

Leonardo Boff, born in Concórdia (Santa Catarina, Brazil) in 1938, is one of the founding fathers of Liberation Theology and a leading exponent of eco-theology. For 22 years he held the Chair in Systematic and Ecumenical Theology at the Franciscan Theological Institute of Petrópolis in Brazil. He then received his doctorate in philosophy at the State University of Rio de Janeiro where he taught ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophical ecology. Condemned in 1985 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the ideas expressed in his book Church: Charism and Power – Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church, he left the Franciscan order in 1992 (which he entered in 1959), and pursued his activity as a lay theologian. He won the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (Right Livelihood Award) in 2001 and was given honoris causa laureates from various universities as well as one in political science from the University of Turin, handed to him by Norberto Bobbio. He has written about 100 books in the areas of theology, philosophy, ethics, spirituality, and ecology.

(August 2021)