“Judgment in Rome: Art and Papal Teaching from John Paul II to Leo XIV.”

Ralf van Bühren is a German art historian, architectural historian, church historian, and theologian. He is professor of art history at the School of Church Communications at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, and also lecturing at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana. His research and teaching specialize on the History of Christian Art and Architecture in general, as well as on Visual Studies, biblical iconography, on the rhetorics and visual communication of sacred art, on the liturgical space after the Second Council of Nicaea (787), the Council of Trent (1545‒1563) and the Vatican Council II (1962‒1965), on Religious Tourism, and on the pastoral concern for contemporary artists in particular.

Father Petar Popović is adjunct professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome. He is the author of “Natural Law and Thomistic Juridical Realism: Prospects for a Dialogue with Contemporary Legal Theory” (2022, CUA Press).

Elizabeth Lev is a transplanted US art historian with degrees from University of Chicago and University of Bologna. She has been working as a guide in Rome for over 20 years and teaches at Duquesne University’s Italian campus as well as the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. She loves Rome, its history, art, cuisine and people and is happiest in its many churches and museums. She has served as a commissioner of the Tourism board of Rome and a didactic consultant for the Vatican Museums. Liz is also the author of 4 books and has commented on art and the papacy for several television networks. She has taught and lectured in numerous venues in Europe, the US, Singapore, and Australia, including an address at the United Nations in New York. Her recent projects include a series of columns for the Epoch Times on the light of art throughout dark times in history. She is also a certified sommelier, so cheers!

Scott J. Roniger is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he currently holds the Fr. Robert H. Taylor, SJ Chair in Philosophy and directs the Lonergan Center for Catholic Faith and Culture. He earned a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (STB), summa cum laude, and a Masters of Sacred Theology, magna cum laude, from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He then earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Licentiate in Philosophy (Ph.L.), summa cum laude, from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He earned his doctorate in philosophy, with distinction, from The Catholic University of America under the direction of Robert Sokolowski. He has published scholarly articles on metaphysics, Catholic social teaching, phenomenology, ethics and political philosophy, and philosophy and literature. He is currently editing a collection of essays by Russell Hittinger on natural law and Catholic social teaching. His research recapitulates themes in Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Husserlian phenomenology. He regularly teaches classes on these topics and figures, as well as classes at the intersection of literature, philosophy, and theology.