news-slider-fundacja

About St. John Paul II Institute of Culture

Pope Francis

On the day that marks the centenary of the birth of St. John Paul II, the most illustrious pupil of this university, the Angelicum, inaugurates within its Faculty of Philosophy, an Institute of Culture named after him. I wish to express my appreciation for this initiative.

Prof. Rémi Brague

Pope John Paul II already belongs not only to the canon, but to history. Yet, this doesn’t mean that his thoughts should be wrapped up in a purple shroud and solemnly buried. To the contrary, his teachings still possess a thriving actuality.

Prof. George Weigel

I am eager to be a part of this important initiative, which I hope will help students “see” the world through John Paul II’s ideas and papal teaching, rather than simply looking at him as an exemplary human being. He was that, of course, but he also had an acute analysis of the crisis of civilization today, and that analysis deserves to be carefully studied.

Fr. Jarosław Kupczak OP

The St. John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Angelicum in Rome is something extremely important. Thanks to it, the study of John Paul II’s thought returns to its source. The Angelicum was the university where Karol Wojtyła wrote his doctoral dissertation. There, as a young priest, he explored the world and studied the international theological thought during an extremely interesting period of history.

prof. Francis R. Hittinger

John Paul II is not only an inspiring pope and saint. He was also the most intellectually productive pope of the 20th century. The St. John Paul II Institute of Culture provides a formation in his thought, and its importance for the 21st century.

St. John Paul II Institute of Culture – Angelicum

Inaugurated on May 18th 2020 – the centenary of the birth of St. John Paul II – the Institute operates within the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas – the Angelicum – in Rome. Its mission is to reflect on the key problems facing the Church and the world today, in the light of the life and thought of St. John Paul II.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates on all the events organized by the St. John Paul II Insitute of Culture.

Please wait

Thank you for sign up!

Meet our supporters

Jolanta & Mirosław Gruszka

St. John Paul II was the most important authority for our generation and for us personally. When he was elected Pope we were still high school students. That is why we consider it an achievement of a lifetime and a tremendous honour to be able to support this extraordinary initiative dedicated to the spread of his thought about Christianity, Europe, and Poland: the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Angelicum in Rome. Future generations will significantly benefit from studying the thought and philosophy of this holy Pope from Poland, whose role is of incredible significance for the future of the Church, as well as that of the world. This is our humble attempt to pay back an unpayable debt which we owe to John Paul II.

Krzysztof Domarecki

Our rapidly developing civilization has increasingly strong and internal problems resulting from disregard of basic anthropological roots. I believe that exercises and lectures at the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture will help its students to develop and propose gospel solutions to the world by John Paul II. I am convinced that learning from John Paul II and thinking together with him can help all of us to build better world.

Wojciech Piasecki

St John Paul II was a remarkable thinker and philosopher, an extraordinary Pole, whose intellecutal hertitage is of universal value. As such it should be furtherly studied and reflected on. Rome and Angelicum – his Alma Mater – are particularly well-suited for this purpose.

Tomasz Zdziebkowski

I consider the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture to be a fundamentally important center for spreading the Catholic faith by means of exploration and promotion of the teachings of our Great Pope. It is fascinating to be involved in a work which – in the face of today’s challenges – so broadly addresses the issues of the renewal of Christian culture. On a personal level through the cooperation with the Insitute I also experience a greater spiritual connection with my beloved Saint.

Our projects

JP2 Lectures

JP2 Lectures is a year-long cycle of interdisciplinary lectures  given by prominent representatives of the academia who refer…

More

JP2 Studies

JOIN “JP2 STUDIES” AT THE ANGELICUM! Would you like to draw wisdom from the sources of St. John…

More

Re-thinking Solidarity

Together with St Benet’s Institute, St Benet’s Hall (University of Oxford), the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building…

More

Visiting Professors

Our visting professors include outstanding intellectuals, scientists and artists from around the world, representing the interdisciplinary reflection distinctive…

More



OUR LECTURERS


Dr. R.R. Reno

Editor of "First Things"

Dr. R.R. Reno

Editor of "First Things"

R.R. Reno – has served as Editor of First Things since 2011. He received his PhD in theology from Yale University, and taught theology and ethics at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska for twenty years. He has published in many academic journals, and his opinion essays have appeared in Commentary, National Review, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times, and other popular outlets. His most recent books include The End of Interpretation, Return of the Strong Gods, and Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society.

Dr. Dariusz Karłowicz

Program Director of St. John Paul II Institute of Culture

Dr. Dariusz Karłowicz

Program Director of St. John Paul II Institute of Culture

Dariusz Karłowicz – philosopher, lecturer, publicist, book publisher. Co-founder and editor-in-chief of the philosophical yearbook “Teologia Polityczna” and president of the Saint Nicholas Foundation. In 1997, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (thesis under the supervision of Professor Juliusz Domański). In 2005, he published the book “Socrates and Other Saints”, which deals with the philosophical foundations of the ideas represented by the early Christians and the Fathers of the Church. The book resonated with the public and received positive reviews in both the Catholic and the large-circulation mainstream press. In 2017, the book was translated into English under the title “Socrates and Other Saints: Early Christian Understandings of Reason and Philosophy”. Co-founder and initiator of the John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), established on the centenary of Karol Wojtyla’s birth.

Prof. Helen Alford OP

Pontifical University of St Thomas (Angelicum)

Prof. Helen Alford OP

Pontifical University of St Thomas (Angelicum)

Helen Alford studied Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Cambridge, and worked in various manufacturing companies including Michelin Tyre. After finishing a PhD thesis on “human-centred technology,” she joined the Dominicans and as a result was sent to teach at the Dominican University in Rome, the Pontifical University of St Thomas (Angelicum). She is now an Ordinary Professor of Economics and Ethics and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; between 2017 and 2021 she was also Vice Rector in the same university. Her research mostly looks at the role and impact of ethics and Christian social thought in the field of management, sustainability and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. She is an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a Consultor to the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development and Senior Adviser to the “Blueprint for Better Business” based in the UK.

Antoine Arjakovsky

Collège des Bernardins in Paris

Antoine Arjakovsky

Collège des Bernardins in Paris

Antoine Arjakovsky is a French historian, with a doctorate in History from EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris). He worked for the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs between 1989 and 2002 and was the Director of the French University of Moscow (Collège universitaire Français de Moscou), the deputy Director of the French Institute of Ukraine and the Founder of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of Lviv. Today, he is Research Director at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris, president of the Association of Christian Philosophers, Administrator of the “Semaines Sociales de France” and Administrator of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience in Prague.

Prof. Vittorio Possenti

President of Persona al Centro – Association for the Philosophy of the Person

Prof. Vittorio Possenti

President of Persona al Centro – Association for the Philosophy of the Person

Vittorio Possenti is a former full professor of Political Philosophy at the Cà Foscari University in Venice. He was a member of the National Bioethics Committee, of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and of the Pontifical Acady of Saint Thomas Aquinas. In 1974 he was one of the founders of the Jacques Maritain International Institute. In 1996 he founded the Yearbook of Philosophy. Second Navigation, which he directed until 2011. He is President of Persona al Centro – Association for the Philosophy of the Person, and author of 35 books in the fields of ontology, political philosophy, ethics. A New Departure. Political Theology and Philosophy of History (Armando, Rome 2022) is his latest book.

Prof. Joseph Weiler

NYU Law School / Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Prof. Joseph Weiler

NYU Law School / Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Joseph H.H. Weiler is University Professor at NYU Law School and Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard. He served previously as President of the European University Institute, Florence. Prof. Weiler is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL) and the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON). He is the recipient of a doctorate honoris causa from the Catholic University of America. One of his notable books is Un’Europa Cristiana: Un saggio esplorativo which has been translated into eight languages.

Prof. Stanisław Grygiel

Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family (formerly)

Prof. Stanisław Grygiel

Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family (formerly)

Polish philosopher, philologist and lecturer. Co-founder of the quarterly “In Nuovo Areopago” and its editor-in-chief until 2002. In the years 1980-1983 he was President of the Polish Institute of Christian Culture. He taught courses in the philosophy of man at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome where he held the Karol Wojtyla Chair in philosophical anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute. He was a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family. In 1991 he took part as an auditor in the Synod for Europe; he was its participant again in 1999 (together with his wife).

Prof. George Weigel

Ethics and Policy Center – Washington D.C.

Prof. George Weigel

Ethics and Policy Center – Washington D.C.

Born 1951 in Baltimore, USA. American Catholic philosopher and theologian, author of over twenty books, among them the biography of St. John Paul II in two volumes: “Witness to Hope” and “The End and the Beginning”. He is Distinguished Senior Fellow and Chair of Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. George Weigel has received 19 honorary doctorate degrees, as well as the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal from the Polish Ministry of Culture.

Prof. Jarosław Kilian

Director of the Teatr Lalka in Warsaw

Prof. Jarosław Kilian

Director of the Teatr Lalka in Warsaw

Born in 1962. Professor Kilian is an art historian and stage director. He has been a scholar of the British Council and the US Department of State. As a stage director, he trained under the guidance of Peter Brook in Vienna. Since 2016 he has been the director of the Teatr Lalka in Warsaw. He has directed operas, outdoor performances, plays for children, and primarily stage performances of European and Polish classic masterpieces of Molière, William Shakespeare, Juliusz Słowacki and Aleksander Fredro.

Prof. Ewa Thompson

Rice Univeristy

Prof. Ewa Thompson

Rice Univeristy

Born 1937 in Kowno (now Lithuania). Research Professor of Slavic Studies at Rice University, Houston, USA. Winner of the Literary Award of the Union of Polish Writers Abroad for popularizing Polish culture and literature in the world (2015). Her books and articles are translated into Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Italian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian and Chinese. Among others she authored books titled: Imperial Knowledge. Russian Literature and Colonialism (2000) and Understanding Russia. Holy Fool in Russian Culture (1987).

Carl A. Anderson

Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family

Carl A. Anderson

Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family

Carl A. Anderson served as Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus from 2000 to 2021.  During this time he led this world-wide fraternal organization to new heights in business, membership, charity, and voluntary service and oversaw the establishment of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. He is the executive producer of numerous documentary films including one on Pope Francis and three on Pope St. John Paul II. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of seven books. He was the founding dean and is current vice president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Prof. John Milbank

University of Nottingham

Prof. John Milbank

University of Nottingham

Born in 1952 in Kings Langley, England. He is an Anglican theologian and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. John Milbank is the most prominent representative of the trend of thought known as Radical Orthodoxy. A characteristic feature of this movement is the crossing of the conventional boundaries between theology, philosophy, political and social theory.

Prof. Andrea Riccardi

La Terza University in Rome

Prof. Andrea Riccardi

La Terza University in Rome

Born 1950, in Rome. Italian historian, professor and politician. He is Professor of Contemporary History at La Terza University in Rome and has also taught at the University of Bari. A number of universities have granted him honorary degrees in recognition of his historical and cultural merits. Andrea Riccardi is known internationally for having founded, in 1968, the Community of Sant’Egidio. In the years 2011-2013 he served as Minister for International Cooperation and Integration in the cabinet of the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Prof. Jean-Luc Marion

University of Chicago

Prof. Jean-Luc Marion

University of Chicago

Born 3 July 1946 in Meudon, France. He is a French historian of philosophy, phenomenologist, and Roman Catholic theologian. He has held chairs at both the Sorbonne and the University of Chicago. Awarded with the 1992 Grand Prix du Philosophie de l’Académie Française, and the 2008 Karl-Jaspers Preis. Jean-Luc Marion is a former student of Jacques Derrida whose work is informed by patristic and mystical theology, phenomenology, and modern philosophy. In November 2008 he was elected as an immortel by the Académie Française. He has occupied seat 4, an office previously held by the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. His many books include “God Without Being” (1991), “Prologomena to Charity” (2002), et al.

John, Lord Alderdice

University of Oxford

John, Lord Alderdice

University of Oxford

Born in 1955 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Emeritus Chairman of the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict, which he earlier founded and had chaired for several years. In 1996 he was appointed a life member of the House of Lords, the Upper Chamber of the British Parliament. In the last thirty years, Lord Alderdice has been involved in almost every aspect of the Irish Peace Process. From October 1987, for 11 years he was Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and was a key negotiator of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Lord Alderdice’s professional background is as a clinical and academic physician and psychiatrist.

Prof. Dariusz Gawin

Polish Academy of Sciences

Prof. Dariusz Gawin

Polish Academy of Sciences

Born in Warsaw in 1964. Historian of ideas, publicist. Deputy Director of the Warsaw Rising Museum, head of the Starzyński Institute. Head of the Department of Civil Society at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Author of, among others, the book “Poland: Eternal Romance” for which he received the Andrzej Kijowski Award.

Prof. Renato Cristin

University of Trieste

Prof. Renato Cristin

University of Trieste

Italian philosopher, professor of philosophy at the University of Trieste. From 2003 to 2006 he was director of the Institute of Italian Culture in Berlin. His research is focused on: Leibnitz’s philosophy, philosophy of culture, phenomenology and hermeneutics. He has published books: Europa al plurale. Philosophy e politica per l’unità europea (1997), La rinascita dell’Europa. Husserl e il destino dell’Occidente (2001), Technologien und Lebenswelten (edited by: G. Abel, W. Hogrebe, A. Przyłębski; 2006), Apologia dell’ego. Per una phenomenologia dell’identità (2011), I padroni del caos (2018).

Prof. Rémi Brague

Sorbonne Univeristy

Prof. Rémi Brague

Sorbonne Univeristy

Professor of history of philosophy at the Sorbonne and the University of Louis and Maximilian in Munich. He is a renowned scholar of the history of Arabic and Oriental philosophy and philosophy of religion. In 2012 he received the Ratzinger Prize. He received an honorary doctorate from the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow (2018).

Prof. Chantal Delson

University of Marne-le-Vallée

Prof. Chantal Delson

University of Marne-le-Vallée

Philosopher, writer and professor of political philosophy. As a graduate of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Lyon, she received her PhD (es lettres) in philosophy at the Sorbonne under Julien Freund in 1982. In 1992 she became professor at the University of Marne-le-Vallée.  Member of the French Academy. Winner of many awards, including the Academy of Ethical and Political Sciences Award (1993,2002) Mousquetaire Award (1996) and the French Academy Award (2001).

Prof. François Daguet OP

Catholic Institute of Toulouse

Prof. François Daguet OP

Catholic Institute of Toulouse

Theologian, lecturer and award-winning author and researcher of ecclesiology and political doctrine of the Church. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Freiburg and studied at the prestigious ENA in Paris. He is currently a professor at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse and the Studium des Dominicains de Toulouse and presides over the Saint Thomas Aquinas Institute. Author of the famous “Du politique chez Thomas d’Aquin” (2015), for which he received the Prix Biguet award.

Prof. John Cavadini

Notre Dame University

Prof. John Cavadini

Notre Dame University

Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University and Director of McGrath Institute for Church Life. He received his doctorate in theology in 1988 from Yale University. In November 2009 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI for a five-year term in the International Theological Commission. Member of the Notre Dame Department since 1990. Cavadini is a researcher of patristic theology and early medieval times. He is also involved in the theology of St. Augustine and the history of biblical and patristic exegesis.

Prof. Marek A. Cichocki

College of Europe in Natolin

Prof. Marek A. Cichocki

College of Europe in Natolin

Born in Warsaw in 1966. Professor of the College of Europe in Natolin, co-founder of “Political Theology” and editor-in-chief of “New Europe, Natolin Review”. He received his doctorate and habilitation in philosophy at the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2013.  In 2000-2003 he was program director of the Center for International Relations in Warsaw. He was also an advisor to the late President of Poland Lech Kaczyński. Author of well-known and awarded books: “Kidnapping Europe”. (2004) and “North and South, essays on Polish culture and history” (2018).

Archbishop Rowan Williams

University of Cambridge

Archbishop Rowan Williams

University of Cambridge

Born in Swansea, Wales in 1950, Anglican bishop, scholar, theologian and poet. Master of Magdalene College Cambridge and honorary professor at the Department of Modern Christian Thought at the University of Cambridge. He graduated in Theology from Christ’s College Cambridge and received his PhD in Philosophy in 1975 at Wadham College Oxford. He was Archbishop of Wales from 2000-2002 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002-2012. Appointed life peer in the House of Lords in 2013, he served as Baron Williams of Oystermouth from 2013 until his retirement on August 31, 2020.

Prof. John M. Finnis

Univeristy of Oxford (Emeritus)

Prof. John M. Finnis

Univeristy of Oxford (Emeritus)

Born in 1940 in South Australia. Jurist, philosopher and scholar, taught Law in the University of Oxford 1965-2010 and is Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy emeritus there and also in the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, where he was a chaired Professor 1995-2020. Author of Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980; 2011) elaborating a new approach to classical natural law theory; Fundamentals of Ethics (1983); Moral Absolutes (1991); Aquinas: Moral, Political and Legal Theory (1995); and in five volumes Collected Essays of John Finnis (2011).  He was a member of the International Theological Commission of the Holy See 1986-91, the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace (1990-95), and the Pontifical Academy Pro Vita (2001-2016).

Cardinal Giafranco Ravasi

Cardinal-Priest of San Giorgio in Velabro

Cardinal Giafranco Ravasi

Cardinal-Priest of San Giorgio in Velabro

Born in 1942. Appointed as cardinal at the consistory in 2010. Currently he is one of the most eminent Vatican officials presiding: The Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology and the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. Close collaborator of Benedict XVI and Francis I.

Prof. Francis R. Hittinger

University of Tulsa (Emeritus)

Prof. Francis R. Hittinger

University of Tulsa (Emeritus)

Born in 1949. Dr. Hittinger is Professor Emeritus of Religion at the University of Tulsa. He is a Senior Fellow at the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago and also serves there as a Visiting Scholar on the Committee on Social Thought.

In 2001 Bl. John Paul II appointed him to the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, of which he became ordinarius in 2004 and, since 2006, appointed to its governing board. In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences as ordinarius. He is one of only two lay academics in the world to be appointed to two pontifical academies. In 2003, to mark the centenary of the death of Pope Leo XIII, he offered a lecture to the Ministry of Culture of the Italian Government. In December 2006, he addressed the President, Prime Minister, and Speakers of the Polish Parliament, culminating a week-long celebration of human rights and the Polish constitution.

Fr. Jarosław Kupczak OP

Pontifical University of JP2 in Cracow

Fr. Jarosław Kupczak OP

Pontifical University of JP2 in Cracow

Born in 1964. Fr. Kupczak is a dominican friar, a professor of theology and one of the world’s
leading experts in the field of St John Paul II’s christian anthropology. He is a lecturer and the director of the Center for Research on the Thought of John Paul II at the Pontifical University
of John Paul II in Cracow, Poland. He has given lectures at many other universities, including: the Instituto Giovanni Paolo II in Rome,
Pontifical Lateran University, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), John Paul II Institute for Studies
on Mariage and Family in Melbourne, Australia. He is the President of the Polish Society of Dogmatist Theologians.

Prof. Michał Gierycz

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Univeristy in Warsaw

Prof. Michał Gierycz

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Univeristy in Warsaw

Michał Gierycz is an associate professor of political science and a dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland. His main research areas include axiology and anthropology of politics, relations between religion and politics and European integration. He won the Countess Aniela Potulicka Award and the Feniks Award in 2018.

Fr. Cezary Binkiewicz

Director of the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture, Rome

Fr. Cezary Binkiewicz

Director of the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture, Rome

Born in 1966. Fr. Cezary holds a PhD in philosophy and is a former director of Philosophical and Theological Dominican Collegium in Cracow. Since 2021 he is the Director of the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture, at Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas – Angelicum.

Rev. prof. Franciszek Longschamps de Bérier

Jagiellonian University

Rev. prof. Franciszek Longschamps de Bérier

Jagiellonian University

Born in 1969. Reverend prof. Longschamps de Bérier is a Catholic priest, professor of legal science and Chair of Roman Law at Jagellonian Univeristy in Cracow. He is also a lecturer at the University of Warsaw and a member of the Committee of Legal Sciences of the Polish Acadamy of Sciences. He serves as a member of the bioethics expert committee of the Polish Episcopal Conference. He represents the Polish Episcopal Conference at the legal committee of the European Union Episcopal Conference. Member of the editorial team of: “Fundamina. A Journal of Legal History” (RSA) and”Studia et documenta historiae et iuris” (Pontifical Lateran University, Rome). Corresponding member of the international editorial of “Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu” (Croatia).

Contact Us

Largo Angelicum, 1, 00184 Roma RM, Italy

[email protected]
jp2@[email protected]