Speakers and Moderators

Mauricio Román Rojas

Independent Researcher and Congress Organizer

Independent Researcher

Independent researcher working on Christian personalism, with particular interests in the thought of Dietrich von Hildebrand, the philosophy of values, and the spiritual formation of the laity. He has presented papers at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. He is the organizer of the Congress “Remembering the Cristeros: Truth, Empathy, and Reconciliation One Hundred Years Later” and collaborates with the Anacleto González Flores Chair in developing academic and cultural initiatives surrounding the centenary of the Cristiada. He divides his time between Portland and San Francisco.

Jorge Tinoco Flores

Academic, professor and consultant

Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara

Jorge Tinoco Flores is an academic, professor, and consultant at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG), with a multidisciplinary background in philosophy, administration, social management, public policy, computer science, and bioethics. He holds master’s degrees from UAG in Philosophy, Administration, Social Management and Public Policy, and Computer Science, as well as a specialization in Senior Management. He has pursued doctoral studies in Bioethics and Administration and further studies in the History of Christianity, philosophy of economics, and leadership. His professional experience encompasses teaching, project management, strategic planning, social responsibility, team development, and the organization of academic initiatives. His interest in the history of Christianity and ethical reflection informs his work on the witness of the martyrs and its significance for contemporary Christian life.

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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Patrick Quinlan

Doctoral Researcher in Global Law

Universidad de Navarra

Patrick Quinlan is a doctoral researcher based between Spain and Texas. He is pursuing a doctorate in Global Law at the University of Navarra, where his research examines the state of exception, the encyclical Quas Primas, the Cristiada, and Blessed Anacleto González Flores. He has been a visiting researcher at the University of Notre Dame Law School and at the Cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez Library in Guadalajara. He holds a Master’s degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he studied teleology, eudaimonia, and the social kingship of Christ in Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, as well as the writings of Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey on the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. He is also translating into English writings by Blessed Anacleto González Flores and a twentieth-century work on government and the common good.

Angel Dimitrov

Doctoral Student in Philosophy

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)

Angel Dimitrov is currently a doctoral student at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome and teaches philosophy at the National High School of Ancient Languages and Cultures in Sofia. His research focuses on Thomistic metaphysics and ethics, the dialogue between the anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas and contemporary psychology, and the history and development of the Thomistic school. Born in Pernik, Bulgaria, in 2000, he graduated from the National High School of Ancient Languages and Cultures before studying at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Integrative Bioethics.

Linda Marlane Zavala Monroy

Director of the Museum of Mexican Saints and Blessed Martyrs

Museum of Mexican Saints and Blessed Martyrs

Linda Marlane Zavala Monroy is a researcher and communicator dedicated to preserving the memory of the Mexican martyrs. A native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, she is Director of the Museum of Mexican Saints and Blessed Martyrs and coordinator of the Cristero Route through the historic center of Guadalajara and the Los Altos region of Jalisco. Her work focuses on preserving and transmitting the memory of the saints, blesseds, and other witnesses to the religious persecution in Mexico, connecting historic places with the lives and testimony of those associated with them. She also coordinates the Cenáculos of the M.S.M. Her work contributes to keeping alive the spiritual and historical memory of the Cristiada and the Mexican martyrs.

Alejandro Francés

Mexican Filmmaker, Director and Screenwriter

Cross Entertainment

Alejandro Francés is a Mexican filmmaker, director, and screenwriter. He directed and wrote Concepción (2024), a biographical documentary feature exploring the life and spirituality of Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida. Produced by Cross Entertainment together with KumCinema and Ánimo Firme A.C., the film combines historical research, testimony, and dramatic reconstruction to bring Cabrera de Armida's interior life and spiritual legacy to contemporary audiences. Francés also served as a co-producer and editor of the film. Concepción reached 51,874 admissions in Mexican cinemas and remained in theatrical release for eight weeks.

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