ACT Professor Dr. Dimitriadis engages in International Dialogue on Theological Discourse and Ethical Leadership in Rome

Dr. Nikolaos F. Dimitriadis, Adj. Professor of World Religions at ACT, participated in the international conference “Nicaea and the Church of the Third Millennium: Towards Catholic–Orthodox Unity”, co-organized by the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) from 4-7 June in Rome. His presentation, on Synodality offered a compelling theological reflection on the Church’s call to inclusive and participatory communion. “It is deeply troubling,” he remarked, “that in 2025, we continue to speak of the inclusion of lay theologians, women, youth, and the marginalized as something that ‘ought to happen’, as if it were a generous extension of institutional grace, rather than a fundamental condition of ecclesial life.”

While in Rome, Dr. Dimitriadis who is also the president of CEMES (Center of Ecumenical, Missiological and Environmental Studies "Metropolitan Panteleimon Papageorgiou") joined a papal audience at the Vatican and presented insights from the EU-funded VIRTUOUS project, which seeks to revolutionize strategies for protecting places of worship in Europe by advancing a values-based, community-driven, and spiritually informed approach.