Speakers and Moderators

Cristian Mendoza Ovando

Professor of Catholic Social Doctrine

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross

Father Cristian Mendoza is a Catholic priest and Extraordinary Professor of Catholic Social Doctrine in the School of Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He also teaches in the School of Church Communications on the economic dimension of the Catholic Church and is a Visiting Scholar at IPADE Business School. He was a Resident Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. His research and teaching focus on Catholic social doctrine, the common good, poverty, subsidiarity, economics and social responsibility, as well as the relationship between institutional communications and the life of the Church. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles, including En busca de lo indispensable: Una propuesta actual en torno a la pobreza y al bien común and La pobreza como problema humano. He is a Catholic priest incardinated in the Prelature of Opus Dei.

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Rodrigo Guerra López

Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America

Pontifical Commission for Latin America — Holy See

Rodrigo Guerra López is a Mexican philosopher and Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He earned his doctorate in philosophy summa cum laude from the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein and is the founder of the Center for Advanced Social Research (CISAV). He has taught at several universities and has worked extensively in philosophical anthropology, social philosophy, bioethics, and Catholic social thought. He is an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the author or co-author of numerous books and studies on the person, society, culture, and Christian thought.

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Rodrigo Ruiz Velasco Barba

Historian and researcher

Universidad Panamericana

Rodrigo Ruiz Velasco Barba is a Mexican historian. He holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in History and Mexican History from the Universidad de Guadalajara and a doctorate in Social Sciences from CIESAS Occidente. He is a Level I member of Mexico’s National System of Researchers and has taught at Universidad Panamericana since 2014. His research focuses on the political and religious history of modern Mexico, Catholicism, and the Mexican right. He is the author of Salvador Abascal. El mexicano que desafió a la Revolución and a contributor to the collective volume Los ‘arreglos’ de 1929: fin de la Cristiada (Universidad de Guadalajara, 2025), as well as numerous historical studies published in Mexico and abroad. A descendant of Cristeros, his engagement with this period brings historical scholarship into conversation with a family memory connected to the conflict.

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José Mauro del Sagrado Corazón González-Luna Mendoza

Lawyer, professor, author and former legislator

Independent researcher and author

José Mauro del Sagrado Corazón González-Luna Mendoza is a Mexican lawyer, professor, author, and former legislator. A graduate of the Escuela Libre de Derecho, he earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and was a member of the Harvard Institute for International Development. He has taught law at Universidad Panamericana, the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), and the Escuela Libre de Derecho, while also practicing law professionally. He served as an opposition member of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies during the LVI Legislature (1994–1997). A columnist and author, he has written works on the philosophy of law and international arbitration. Born in Mexico City in 1952 and a member of the González Luna family, he maintains a particular connection with Mexico’s twentieth-century intellectual, civic, and Catholic tradition.