Category: Konferencije

As part of the 34th International Interdisciplinary Symposium Frane Petrić Days, held in Cres from 20 to 23 September 2026, whose main theme was “Technology – Technique – Technoworld,” an academic presentation entitled “Who Has the Final Say? Legal and Algorethical Implications of the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Justice” was delivered by Assistant Professor Nevena Aljinović, PhD, and Associate Professor Ana Jeličić, PhD.

The presentation examined the possibilities and limitations of the use of artificial intelligence in criminal justice, with particular emphasis on whether the judicial decision-making function can be delegated to algorithmic systems while preserving the fundamental requirements of the rule of law. The discussion addressed issues of judicial independence and impartiality, the legitimacy of judicial decisions, individualization, the right to a reasoned decision and an effective legal remedy, as well as the risks of algorithmic opacity and the reproduction of existing biases.

In this context, the algorethical implications of the use of artificial intelligence were also considered, with particular emphasis on preserving human dignity, autonomy, and human control, as well as on developing a responsible and algorethically grounded framework for its application.

As part of the institutional project SVEJERKOV – St. Jerome’s Forge of Words, doctoral candidate Maja Rončević and her supervisor, Prof. Ivan Bodrožić, PhD, took part in the 51st Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies to research and present a plan for a future doctoral dissertation.

On the first day of the 51st Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies, Prof. Bodrožić delivered his lecture. Titled “Asceticism as Therapy for Human Wounds According to St. Jerome’s Epistles,” the lecture shows how Jerome, in several places in his epistles, speaks of spiritual health, drawing on vivid expressions from the field of medicine. Jerome particularly emphasizes that the spiritual illness known as concupiscence is especially dangerous because it destroys the individual from within. It can be fought only through a serious ascetic life, which also includes choosing food as part of one’s dietary regimen. Jerome also stresses that even physicians such as Galen confirmed that not every food is equally suitable for everyone or for every stage of life. It is therefore all the more important to pay attention to the spiritual dimension of food, since it builds up the soul and serves as a remedy for the development of one’s character and the attainment of salvation: “We do not seek the nourishment of a body that has flourished on such food, but the strength of a soul that grows stronger through the body’s weakness.”

On the third day of the conference, doctoral candidate Maja Rončević took part in the session set aside for doctoral candidates — the Predissertation Workshop, intended for presenting and discussing doctoral research in progress. In her presentation, titled “The Concept of Friendship Between the Classical Ideal and the Evangelical Realization in Jerome’s Epistles during the First Period of His Life (347–382),” she presented her research and engaged in academic discussion and an exchange of views with other participants and experts. The research conducted at the John M. Kelly Library, together with the comments and suggestions received during the workshop, will be a valuable contribution to the further development and direction of the research. In addition, the conference provided an opportunity to meet and establish contacts with researchers such as Mark Vessey, who likewise works on St. Jerome. His expert insights and future cooperation will further contribute to the quality and progress of the work on the future doctoral dissertation.

The LI. Incontro di Studiosi dell’Antichità Cristiana was held at the Pontifical Institute Augustinianum in Rome on 7 and 8 May, bringing together around 60 speakers from around the world. The conference’s general theme was Il cristianesimo, i popoli, le culture. Aspetti e problemi dell’inculturazione del cristianesimo nei primi secoli (I–IX). On Friday, 8 May, Prof. Ivan Bodrožić, PhD, delivered a lecture titled Il ruolo della figura di San Girolamo nella cristianizzazione e nell’inculturazione del popolo croato dal secolo VII, thereby presenting the results of the research he is conducting within the SVEJERKOV project (IP-UNIST-21) at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Split.

Professor Bodrožić pointed out that the Christianization and inculturation of the South Slavic peoples in Western Illyricum were demanding and complex, markedly different from those that took place during Christianity’s first five centuries. Whereas in the early centuries the inculturation of Christianity presupposed a mutual relationship between the Church and the Empire, in the case of the Slavic peoples, including the Croats, the process was twofold yet one-sided. The Church of that time had to both preach the Gospel and transmit the Latin culture of the preceding society, since it could not count on the support of civil structures, which had by then collapsed under the pressure of barbarian peoples and tribes. However, since the majority of the Croatian population did not readily adopt the norms of Latin culture, the people continued to use the vernacular language, which in some circles cast doubt on the sincerity of their attachment to Christian orthodoxy. Nevertheless, thanks to the work of Saints Cyril and Methodius among the Slavic peoples, the Croatian people continued to use Old Church Slavonic in the liturgy and Glagolitic as their script. However, since the process of baptism — whose decisive turning point is marked by the baptistery of Prince Višeslav around the year 800 — was slow, as archaeology and toponomastics show, the faith did not easily penetrate all strata of the population. In everyday life, a certain degree of syncretism certainly existed, while on the other hand there was the obstacle of the Slavic language, unintelligible to the Western populations who at that time used Latin as a common language, but also as the liturgical language of worship. In this process, however, the Church agreed to the inculturation of the faith into the life of the Slavic people, allowing them the use of their own language. In order to remove all doubts regarding heresy or possible syncretism, it placed this process under the powerful patronage of St. Jerome, who in the meantime had been proclaimed the author of the Glagolitic script and the translator of the Bible into the Illyrian language. In this way he became the guarantor of orthodoxy in the process of Christianization, as well as of the integration of the Croatian people into the European cultural heritage.

Prof. Ivan Bodrožić took part in the International Seminar on the Origins of Europe, held in Toledo on 11 December 2025. The lecture was delivered as part of the institutional project “St. Jerome’s Forge of Words – SVEJERKOV (IP-21),” which aims to research and valorize St. Jerome’s legacy and its contribution to Croatian cultural and European identity. For this reason, the lecture was titled “The Importance of the Figure of Saint Jerome for the Integration of the Croatian People into the European Community (from the 7th Century onwards).”

In his lecture, Prof. Bodrožić discussed the importance of St. Jerome’s figure and work in shaping Croatia’s historical and cultural belonging to the European sphere. He devoted particular attention to St. Jerome’s role in connecting the Croatian people with the European Christian and cultural heritage. By participating in this international seminar, Prof. Bodrožić presented the Croatian perspective on Europe’s roots and contributed to the international dialogue on the shared European cultural and spiritual heritage.