9th Scientific Symposium "Catholic Heritage in Georgia"

On June 3-4, 2026, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University hosted the 9th Scientific Symposium "Catholic Heritage in Georgia." This year's symposium was dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion, and the majority of the presented papers focused on this event.

On the first day of the symposium, the audience was welcomed by the University Rector, Father Akaki Chelidze; the University's founder, the Apostolic Administrator of Latin Catholics in the Caucasus, Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto; and the diplomatic adviser of the Holy See's embassy, Monsignor Alexander Rahinia. Later, the Rector of the Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze, also addressed the attendees.

The two-day symposium was held across five sessions, in which presenters discussed new developments related to Catholic heritage from various perspectives - theological, historical, lexicographical, bibliographical, and more.

During the symposium, several project presentations also took place. One of these was a research project carried out by Gori State University — Scientific Research Projects in the Vatican's Propaganda Fide Archive, 2022–2026 — presented by Gori State University Vice-Rector Zurab Zurabashvili. Also in attendance was Gori State University Rector, Professor Alexandre Mgebrishvili. In the same session, the nephew of the well-known Georgian artist Félix Varlamishvili (Félix Varla) spoke about his uncle's work.

Joining the symposium online was Sopho Gozalishvili, a doctoral student in theology at the University of Vienna, who briefly spoke about a conference held by Georgian theologians abroad, dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion.

The symposium is held annually and aims to analyze the significance of the Roman Catholic Church in shaping Georgian culture and identity.