The OPTIC network and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 18 March, 2022 to promote the ethical use of technology within the Church and the Order.
The OPTIC Network is an international organisation that was founded in 2012 under the aegis of the Dominican Order. This non-profit organisation contributes to the development of human-centred technologies in accordance with Christian anthropology and ethics as well as Catholic social teaching.
The prestigious Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, was elevated to the rank of Pontifical University by Pope St. John XXIII in 1963. Attached directly to the Dominican superior, it offers programmes in Italian and English and trains about 1,000 students a year – lay and religious – from around 100 different countries. It includes faculties of theology, philosophy, canon law, social sciences and an institute of religious sciences called “Mater Ecclesiae”.
The aim of this new agreement is to initiate collaboration on the ethics of technologies that are of growing interest in the Church. Optic Technology will provide access to its wide network of theologians, anthropologists, philosophers and technical experts and will contribute to the training of a new generation of students at the Angelicum on the impact of technology in our society.
This memorandum of understanding (MoU) will thus encourage collaborative research within the Dominican Order. With this alliance, common initiatives will rapidly commence including seminars, colloquia and study days. These will lead to regular events promoting academic research in the Dominican family at the service of the Church.
News from Angelicum, Memorandum of Understanding, 2022 (Visited on 03/19/2024 : https://angelicum.it/memorandum-of-understanding-signed-with-optic/)
