FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAPLES, Fla. — November 3, 2026 — Ave Maria School of Law co-organized the XVIII International Conference on Natural Law in Santiago, Chile, October 26–28, 2026, contributing two keynote speakers and leading the conference’s only panel devoted to natural law and Catholic legal education.

The gathering marked Ave Maria Law’s entry into an international network of Catholic law schools that integrate natural law theory into their teaching as part of their institutional missions. It also continued the school’s leadership in international natural law scholarship, building on two earlier conferences co-hosted in Poland and Spain.

Hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile’s Faculty of Law, the conference was titled “Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age: Platforms, Deepfakes, Social Networks and the Public Sphere.” Ave Maria Law joined Notre Dame Law School and Latin American institutions as co-organizers.

Connecting Natural Law, Technology and Legal Education

The conference examined how artificial intelligence and digital platforms are reshaping freedom of expression, public debate and legal responsibility. Scholars considered questions involving deepfakes, misinformation, content moderation and the protection of human dignity in the digital age.

Ave Maria Law Professor Brian Scarnecchia delivered the first keynote lecture, “The Challenges and Opportunities AI Present for an Integral Human Ecology.”

Professor Lee Strang, invited by Ave Maria Law, delivered the second keynote, “Natural Law in Catholic Legal Education: The Architecture of Law as the Architecture of Legal Education.” Strang serves as executive director of the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at The Ohio State University.

Ave Maria Law also organized and moderated “Natural Law, Artificial Intelligence and Catholic Legal Education,” the conference’s only panel focused specifically on the relationship between natural law and the mission of Catholic legal education.

Professor Ligia Castaldi and Professor Raúl Madrid of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile moderated the discussion. Participants included Gabriel Bocksang, dean of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile’s Faculty of Law; Daniel Herrera, dean of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina’s Faculty of Law; Fernando Batista, dean of Universidad Panamericana in Mexico; and Professor Strang.

The panel continued an ongoing international discussion led by Ave Maria Law on the place of natural law in Catholic legal education and its relevance to the formation of future lawyers.

Building an International Academic Collaboration

The Chile gathering was the latest of three international conferences on natural law and legal philosophy in which Ave Maria Law has taken a leadership role.

The school previously co-hosted “St. John Paul II’s Natural Law Legacy and International Human Rights: Toward a Century of Persuasion” in Poland and “Cristianismo y Derecho” (“Christianity and Law”) in Spain. These gatherings brought together prominent American and international scholars to examine contemporary legal questions through the natural law tradition.

Participation in the Chile conference extends that work through a network of more than a dozen Catholic law schools across Latin America, Europe and the United States, including Notre Dame Law School and Ave Maria Law. Annual conferences provide opportunities to exchange ideas and teaching practices while addressing legal challenges in light of natural law and the dignity of the human person.

For Ave Maria Law, these collaborations bring its institutional mission into an international academic conversation and strengthen relationships with scholars and schools that share its commitment to natural law.

Inspired by St. John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio, Ave Maria Law offers a distinctive legal education characterized by the harmony of faith and reason.

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