Pope Francis will be subject of 2 Charlotte lectures this month

Two Charlotte churches will host lectures this month on Pope Francis and related topics.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 5), the Rev. James Howell will offer a multimedia presentation on “Pope Francis, St. Francis and How to be Christlike.” The lecture will be held in Jubilee Hall at Myers Park United Methodist Church, 1501 Queens Road.

Howell, who is senior pastor at the church, will explore the popularity of the new pope, who chose to name himself for St. Francis of Assisi – the subject of one of 16 books Howell has written – and, like St. Francis, has tried to model his life on Jesus’ way of living.

Then, at 9 a.m. Jan. 30, St. Peter Catholic Church, 507 S. Tryon St. in uptown Charlotte, will hold its 16th annual Kennedy Lecture. Gerard Mannion will speak on “Remembering the Future and Re-engaging the People of God: Pope Francis and Vatican II.”

Vatican II is shorthand for the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which was called by then-Pope John XXIII to reform and modernize the Roman Catholic Church. Mannion is a professor of Catholic Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Georgetown and St. Peter are both staffed by Jesuits – an order of priests that includes Pope Francis, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Both lectures are free.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Pope Francis will be subject of 2 Charlotte lectures this month."