Rafael Luciani, a globally recognized lay theologian from Venezuela, is a leading voice in contemporary ecclesiology and synodality. His work embodies the vision of the Second Vatican Council and considers theology as his vocation and ministry, forming theologians and pastoral leaders worldwide. Educated in Latin America and Europe, he earned his Licentiate and Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and did postdoctoral research at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg in Germany. He earned other degrees from the Jesuit`s Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas and the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. Recently, he received a Doctor Honoris Causa in Theology from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in the United States.
In addition to his role at JST-SCU, he teaches as Guest Professor in institutions across Latin America, North America, and Europe, as part of his contributions to the global Church, and has taught at Boston College. His prolific scholarship includes over 100 publications, ranging from peer-reviewed academic articles and pastoral writings to major Books in Spanish, English, Italian, and German, some of which have been translated into Polish and Chinese, advancing theological reflection worldwide. He is Editor of the Latin American academic theological Journal Medellín.
Luciani serves as theological Peritus (Expert) for the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) and Senior Director of its Center for Theological Studies in Latin America. He is a member of the theological team of the Latin American Confederation of Religious Women and Men (CLAR), and member and co-coordinator of the Intercontinental Group Peter & Paul. During the Extraordinary Synod for the Pan-Amazonian Region he served as Adviser for the Ecclesial Pan-Amazonian Network (REPAM). He is a member of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican and Peritus for the XVI General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality.
- Vatican II: Reception & Hermeneutics Today
- Ecclesiology
- Synodality and reforms in the Church
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Synodality. A new way of proceeding in the Church, Paulist Press, New York 2022.
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Il sensus fidei di tutto il popolo di Dio, Ed. Queriniana, Brescia 2025 (Preface by Pope Francis).
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Pope Francis and the Theology of the People, Orbis Books, NY 2017.
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Rafael Luciani, Santiago Guijarro (eds.), La elección de los obispos en la Iglesia, Revista Seminarios 71/235 (2024)
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Rafael Luciani, Serena Noceti, Carlos Schickendantz (eds.), Sinodalità e riforma. Una sfida ecclesiale, Queriniana, Brescia 2022.
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"Von bischöflicher und synodaler Kollegialität zu synodaler Ekklesialität in Lateinamerika und der Karibik", in Julia Knop, Matthias Remenyi, Matthias Sellmann und Tine Stein (eds.), Synode als Chance. Zur Performativität synodaler Ereignisse, Series Quaestiones Disputatae, Herder 2024.
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"Medellín come evento sinodale: genesi e sviluppo di un`ecclesialità sinodale", in Gilles Routhier, Myriam Wijlens, Diversità e unità. Ripensare il munus docendi delle conferenze episcopali in una chiesa mondiale, Ed. EDB, Bologna 2023, 211-240.
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Rafael Luciani & Serena Noceti (co-authors), Un camino que genera un Pueblo. El Sínodo de la sinodalidad, Ed. CELAM, Bogotá 2025.
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"Towards a Responsible Accountable Bond of the Episcopal Exercise in Light of the Sensus Fidelium of the Whole People of God", Studia Canonica 56/2 (2022) 509-527.
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"El despertar de la conciencia de una Ecclesia tota. Claves para una lectura eclesiológica del proceso sinodal", Medellín 190 (2025) 15-35.
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"Una nueva figura de Iglesia a la luz de la práctica del sensus fidei fidelium", in Teología en clave sinodal Aportes a una sinodalidad misionera, Ed. Celam, Bogotá 2025, 141-166 (Cf. https://documental.celam.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-retrieve-file.pl?id=9fcf7420504708c3e8210faa2b3d3d8d)