On March 2, 2012, on the occasion of the Feast Day of Saint Thomas’, the Pontifical Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities within the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik organized a series of three conferences. The conferences were respectively given by Mgr. Pierre Debergé, Rector of The Catholic Institute of Toulouse, France, Ms. Marie-Thérèse Urvoy, from The Faculty of Philosophy, The Catholic Institute of Toulouse, France, and Ms. Corine Pelluchon, from The Department of Philosophy, University of Poitiers, France.

In his speech, Rev. Fr. Antoine Ahmar, Dean of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology, praised Mgr. Pierre Debergé, describing him as “…a big thinker distinguished by his rich and outstanding theological journey”, pointing out that “...he is at the same time a theologian and a biblical scholar, as well as a promoter of Catholic thinking”.

Following the welcome speech of Prof. Hoda Nehme, Dean of The Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, Mgr. Debergé presented a conference entitled “Man and Woman in the Bible: Some Elements of Biblical Anthropology for Today”. After presenting a critical explanation of the Genesis creation narrative, Mgr. Debergé underlined that “…since men and women are born different and inhabit differently the common body they have, sexuality, which cannot be reduced to its biological dimension, is represented in the Bible as the space wherein a man and a woman experience the order of the difference, which structures the world and establishes their relational identity… Relations which do not respect sex differences and familial bonds are unacceptable, such as the cases of consanguinity and homosexuality which are relations that contradict Human Nature exactly like zoophilia”, Mgr. Debergé concluded.

Afterwards, Ms. Urvoy dealt with “Humanism in Arab Ethics”, while Ms. Pelluchon discussed the theme of “Ecology and Politics”.