Repole, university professor, is director of the Theological Faculty of Turin and until recently he was president of the Italian theologians. He is therefore a name with a high theological profile. Scholar of systematic theology, he obtained a doctorate in Gregorian with a thesis entitled “Church fullness of man. Beyond postmodernity: G. Marcel and H. de Lubac ”.
His publications include: “Humble Thought. Listening to the Revelation ”(New City); “Seed of the Kingdom. Introduction to the Church and her mystery “(Experiences); “The humility of the Church” (Qiqajon); “Like stars on earth. The Church in the age of secularization ”(Cittadella); “Gift (Rosenberg & Sellier); “The Christian Life” (St. Paul); “Church” (Citadel).
Repole it is close to the ecclesial reform that the Pope is carrying out. In several writings he has made his wish for greater synodality, a recurring theme in the magisterium of Francis. For him, the ecclesial reform designed by the Pope requires as a condition an adequate theology of the presbytery. “Already in the ancient Church – he recently wrote – different models of ministry coexisted which seem to be well accompanied by a perspective of better synodality, which allows us to think of the bishop as a principle of unity with and in his presbytery, rather than outside it; in the first case it is in fact possible to read more the bishop starting from the presbytery and less the presbytery starting from the bishop “.
In the magazine of the Italian clergy he also wrote about the “outgoing Church” always postulated by Francis, a “missionary Church, whose priority is the announcement to those who are far away”. In this sense, ministerial action must adopt a “radical change of perspective”. In fact, it becomes vital for the priest to ask himself “how to support a community that thinks and lives structurally extroverted, within a de-Christianized world, where the only possibility that is given for evangelization is that the Gospel be transmitted from person to person and is welcomed in the free adhesion of conscience “. This involves “a conversion in perceiving the role of priests, since the Christian community exists and lives even where they cannot physically exist, where, primarily, the challenge of the evangelical announcement is played out”.