Speakers

Sergio Belardinelli is Alma Mater Professor at the University of Bologna, where he was full Professor of Sociology of Culture. Among his books: L'altro Illuminismo. Politica, religione e funzione pubblica della verità, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2010; Sillabario per la tarda modernità, Cantagalli, Siena 2012; L'ordine di Babele. Le culture tra pluralismo e identità, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2018; All’alba di un nuovo mondo, Il Mulino, Bologna 2019 (co-authored with Angelo Panebianco); L’inesauribile superficie delle cose, Cantagalli, Siena 2022. 2002-2006 he was member of the Board of the National Committee on Bioethics; 2011-2015 he was member of the Board of the "Italian Institute of German Studies"; He is member of the “Accademia delle Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna”, and writes for the newspaper “Il Foglio”.

Magdalena Dej

Diocesan Family Life Counselor of the Archdiocese of Krakow. In her pastoral activities, she focuses on the development of counseling for fiancées, couples and families, as well as specialized counseling. She participates in the training of new cadres of family life counselors and in the development of training programs for active counselors. She is actively involved in the activities of the National Center for Family Pastoral Care as a representative of the Southern Region. Together with her husband, she conducts catechesis for fiancées and meetings at the family life counseling center. She holds a doctorate in Earth Sciences (Jagiellonian University) and a master's degree in theology (Pope John Paul II University in Krakow). She is fascinated by Carmelite spirituality and the figure of St. John Paul II. She considers being a wife and mother of four children her most important vocation.

Luisa Lodevole

is Lecturer in Philosophy of Law, Bio-law and Legal informatics by the Department of Law, University of Rome "Tor Vergata". She is enrolled in the Bar Association of Rome, in the special register of university professors, and practiced as a lawyer especially in the fields of civil law, commercial law, labour law, and as a consultant for institutes of higher education, as well as associations engaged in the promotion of child safety and protection in the digital world.

In 2002 she graduated in Law, by the University of Rome "La Sapienza"; in 2005 she achieved a Master's degree in Bioethics by the Pontifical Institute John Paul II and in 2007 a Master's degree in Bioethics and Education by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. From 2011 to 2013 was Visiting PhD at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Law, Institut von Rechtsphilosophie, Religions- und Kulturrecht, and in 2014 she obtained her PhD by the University of Rome Tor Vergata in "History and Theory of European Law" with a dissertation on the legal protection of embryos.

From 2021 to 2024 she taught Human Rights in Spanish as a Supplementary Course in Foreign Language. From 2009 to 2020 she taught "Bioethics", "The marriage in the Italian civil code", "Family policies and religious freedom" in the Diploma of Family pastoral care by the Pontifical Institute John Paul II; in 2018 she taught "The marriage in Civil Law" by the Master course in Family Counselling by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. From 2006 to 2008 she taught "Bio-law" in the Master course of Clinical Bioethics by the Faculty of Medicine, University "La Sapienza".

She is author of the monograph "Abandoned Embryos" and of various scientific works about Philosophy of Law, Bio-law and Legal Informatics. She is member of the Center for Legal Studies "For-with-of Women". She is member of the Editorial Team of the Review "Christianity, World, Politics", directed by the University Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw (Poland). She offered her contribution in International and National Conferences (e.g. last: Nov.-Dec. 2023, the 4th Biennial International Conference on Religion and Politics "A New, Even More Brave World... The Hope of Faith and the Hope of Politics. In Memory of Pope Benedict XVI", Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw; April 2023 International Conference "The Concept of Ius in Thomas Aquinas" organized by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome Italy).

Ewa Budzyńska

dr hab., psycholog i socjolog; emerytowany nauczyciel akademicki (psychologist and sociologist; retired academic teacher). Budzyńska's scientific and research interests are focused on topics related to: 1) the sociology of morality (concepts of moral order and pro-social attitudes, transformations of moral values in Polish society), 2) the sociology of the family (transformations of modern families and their macro-social and cultural conditions, the concept of intergenerational ties in the family) and 3) the sociology of religion (transformations of religiosity in Polish society). They have been reflected in many scientific publications - articles and monographs (e.g.: Ewa Budzyńska, „A moral order in a changing society. A sociological study of moral values of Katowice residents”, Katowice 2007; Ewa Budzyńska, „Intergenerational ties in the family. A sociological study of Polish and Slovak families”, Katowice 2018).

Grzegorz Hołub

Rev. Prof. Dr. Is a professor of philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow. In his research he addresses bioethical issues and those typical for the philosophy of man, the human person. He is currently the Head of the Karol Wojtyła Chair. In addition, he serves as Director of the Interdepartmental Institute of Bioethics. He is also responsible for the critical edition of Karol Wojtyła's philosophical writings. In 2024, he initiated the periodical 'Wojtyla Studies', where he is one of the editors-in-chief. He is the author of more than 100 articles and chapters in Polish and English on bioethics, philosophy of human enhancement, philosophy of man, and the philosophy of Karol Wojtyła. His main books include the following: 1. Problem osoby we współczesnych debatach bioetycznych, Wydawnictwo Księgarnia Akademicka, Kraków 2010; 2. Osoba w labiryncie decyzji moralnych. Bioetyka w perspektywie personalistycznej, Wydawnictwo św. Stanisława BM, Kraków 2014; 3. Ulepszanie człowieka. Fikcja czy rzeczywistość? Argumenty, krytyka, poszukiwanie płaszczyzny dialogu, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Ignatianum, Kraków 2018; 4. Karol Wojtyła, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Ignatianum, Kraków 2019 (Polish and English editions); 5. Understanding the Person. Essays on the Personalism of Karol Wojtyła, Peter Lang, Berlin 2021; 6. Stać się więcej niż człowiekiem? Studia krytyczne na temat transhumanizmu, Polskie Towarzystwo Tomasza z Akwinu, Lublin 2024.

Branka Gabric

Studied philosophy and theology in Croatia and has a licentiate and doctorate in Moral Theology from Accademia Alfonsiana, Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. Currently, she is a research assistant at the Institut für Weltkirche und Mission in Frankfurt am Main, at the Philosophical-Theological Faculty S. Georgen, where she is responsible for the research area mission and health. 

She is a member of various international moral theological and theological associations, her research focuses on bioethics and the beginning of life, public and global health, and Church engagement in these areas.

Mary Eberstadt

Is an American author whose books include Adam and Eve after the Pill, Revisited, Foreword by Cardinal George Pell (2023); Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics (2019); and How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization (2013). She has written for many journals and magazines, and her books and essays have been widely translated. 

Mrs. Eberstadt is a senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., and she occupies the Panula Chair in Christian Culture at the Catholic Information Center. She holds honorary doctorates in humane letters from Seton Hall University in New Jersey and Magdalen College, New Hampshire. Her early work includes two years as a speechwriter to American Secretary of State George Shultz, and speechwriting for Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick.

Mrs. Eberstadt graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude with a double major in philosophy and government. She is married to demographer and author Nicholas Eberstadt, and they have four children. Updates and more about her work can be found on her website, maryeberstadt.com.

Maria Sroczyńska

Ph.D., Associate Professor is the head of the Department of Sociology of Family, Education and Upbringing at the Faculty of Social and Economics of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. In the years 2016–2019, she was the chairwoman of the Sociology of Religion Section of PSA. The research issues she undertakes concern the continuity and transformations of the religiosity of Polish society, the attitude of young people to various types of rituals, changes in the sphere of family life and intimacy, and contemporary challenges related to socialization and educational processes. She is the author of over 90 scientific publications.

José Noriega

He is currently Professor of Moral Theology at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, CO. He has been Professor of Special Moral Theology for 18 years at the Pontifical Istituto Giovanni Paolo II, Rome, 2002-2019, where he was also Vice President. Among his publications: No solo de sexo… Hambre, libido y felicidad: las formas del deseo (2012), El destino del eros: perspectivas de moral sexual (2006), With L. MELINA e J. PEREZ SOBA, Caminar a la luz del amor: Los fundamentos de la moral cristiana (2008), With R. & I. ECOCHARD, they have edited Dizionario su sesso, amore e fecondità (2019).

Aude Suramy

Is a lecturer in philosophy at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse. She specialises in the philosophical thought of Karol Wojtyla/Saint John Paul II. She is the author of a number of articles on the subject, and of a book intitulated La voie de l'amour, Une interprétation de Personne et acte, de Karol Wojtyla, lecteur de Thomas d'Aquin, wichi s her doctoral thesis on Osoba i czyn defended at the Université Sorbonne-Paris IV.

Richard and Mária Kucharčík

Married since 2007, parents of three children. Mgr. Bc. Richard Kucharčík, M.A. PhD. Secretary of the Council for Family of Slovak Bishop Conference, in the past Assistant at the Department of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Theology in Košice Catholic University in Ružomberok. Mgr. Bc. Mária Kucharčík, M.A. works at the Archdiocesan Family Centre in Košice. Together they studied Family Sciences at the Faculty of Theology in Bratislava (Trnavská univerzita) and Marriage and Family Sciences at the Pontifical Institute of John Paul II in Rome. They are members of the Karol Wojtyla Academy and coordinators of the Master's study in Marriage and Family Theology at the Faculty of Theology in Košice.

Karel Skocovsky

Ph.D et Ph.D., priest of the Archdiocese of Olomouc (Czech Republic). He studied psychology at Masaryk University in Brno. His doctoral thesis was devoted to the topic of the influence of natural family planning on the marital relationship. Subsequently, he studied theology in Olomouc and Rome at the Lateran University. He earned his doctorate in theology of marriage and family at the John Paul II Institute in Rome. His dissertation was concerned with the theme of breastfeeding: the theological interpretation of Maria lactans (Virgin Mary who nurses Baby Jesus). He currently works at the Department of Pastoral and Spiritual Theology at the Cyril and Methodius Theological Faculty in Olomouc.

Livio Melina

Is a moral theologian and co-founder of the Veritas Amoris Project. From 1996-2019 he has been ordinary professor of moral theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome, serving as its President from 2006-2016. At the Institute he has founded and directed the International Research Area in Moral Theology. He is an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology and has been the Scientific Director of the academic journal Anthropotes. He has been visiting professor in Washington DC and Melbourne and has given and continues to give courses and lectures at various international universities.

Kard. Willem Eijk

Born in 1953, medical degree in 1978 (University of Amsterdam), PhD in medicine 1987 (University of Leiden), PhD in philosophy 1990 (Angelicum Rome), Licentiate in theology of marriage and family 1990 (John Paul II Institute, Rome), 1990-1999 teacher of moral theology ar the seminary of the diocese of Roermond,1997-1999 teacher of moral theology at the Faculty of Theology of Lugano, bishop of Groningen 1999, Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht from 2008, created a Cardinal in 2012.

Przemysław Kwiatkowski

Prezbiter archidiecezji gnieźnieńskiej. W latach 2009-2019 profesor teologii duchowości i katolickiej nauki społecznej na Papieskim Instytucie Jana Pawła II dla Studiów nad Małżeństwem i Rodziną w Rzymie, sekretarz Katedry im. Karola Wojtyły, kierowanej przez śp. prof. Stanisława Grygiela, koordynator studiów prowadzonych we współpracy z Instytutem Bioetyki i Wydziałem Medycyny Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Najświętszego Serca w Rzymie. Prowadzi spotkania formacyjne i wykłady akademickie w Polsce, Austrii, we Włoszech i na Słowacji. 

W latach 2014-2016 sekretarz Prymasa Polski. W latach 2016-2023 rektor Prymasowskiego Wyższego Seminarium Duchownego w Gnieźnie. W latach 2020–2023 sekretarz, a następnie przewodniczący Zarządu Konferencji Rektorów Wyższych Seminariów Duchownych Diecezjalnych i Zakonnych w Polsce oraz konsultor Komisji Duchowieństwa KEP.

Od 2023 r. Przewodniczący Wydziału Duszpasterskiego Kurii Metropolitalnej w Gnieźnie i konsultor Rady ds. Rodziny Konferencji Episkopatu Polski. Od 2024 r. proboszcz parafii archikatedralnej w Gnieźnie.