The Salesian priest Juan Carlos Aonso won the VIIIth PPC Prize for Young Theological Writingfor his work entitled “Everyone, everyone, everyone? Racism as a theological problem. At 35 years old, this priest graduated in Physical Sciences and passionate about magic … awarded by this prize to the emerging values of the spiritual, intellectual and existential search for the Gospel.
For the Salesian, racism “is not just another problem in the social doctrine of the Church, nor a simple ethical or pastoral question”, but rather “it is reflected in the welcome we offer to those who are different, certainly, but it is based on an erroneous conception of love, freedom, Trinitarian relations and communion”.
“This leads to the perversion of the Eucharist, the institutionalization of sin and spiritual death. “This disrupts the essence of the Church, the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, and breaks with the most authentic Christian tradition,” the author warns in his writings. He therefore does not hesitate to affirm that “the problem of racism, from the Christian point of view, is more serious than we can say”.
Master in fundamental theology, this native of Santander is currently stationed in Urnieta. In this town located on the outskirts of San Sebastián, he is pastoral coordinator of the Salesianos Magale school and responsible for the youth center for a year. He arrived there after passing through, among other Salesian communities, Madrid, Granada and Lugo.
The jury chose the work presented by this Salesian religious, both for the topicality of the subject and for the quality of the research and the prophetic perspective in the face of the challenge that the migration question represents for theological reflection. In this eighth call for the PPC Young Theological Essay Prize, open to men and women between 18 and 40 years old of any nationalityAonso stands out among dozens of works on systematic theology, the Bible, morality, spirituality, liturgy and the history of the Church. The prize is accompanied by a prize of 1,500 euros for the author and the publication of the work by PPC editions, a book which will be released in spring 2026.
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