Italian atheist philosopher Marcello Pera, who co-authored the 2005 book Without Roots —The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam with the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, will be among those addressing the conference this Saturday.

The event, entitled Catholic Church: Where are you heading? Only a blind man can deny that there is great confusion in the Church, will deal with highly sensitive themes related to what some see as the Church undergoing one of the greatest crises in her two millennia history.

Other speakers will include Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, who will briefly discuss his concerns about the Church in China; Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, who will talk about the limits of papal authority in the doctrine of the Church; and Kazakh Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider who will discuss papal infallibility.

The conference was one of the last wishes of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop emeritus of Bologna, who had become deeply dismayed by the extent of doctrinal confusion in the Church.  

The mainly Italian event is the work of a group calling themselves the “Friends of Cardinal Caffarra” who have organized it in close conformity with the cardinal’s wishes.

At the end of the conference, a declaration will be issued that will amount to a profession of faith on points of doctrine and morality that are most controversial in the Church today.