On the 24^th day of April 2021, Rev. Dr. Ramil R. Marcos, the current Head of the University’s Community Outreach and Service Learning (COSEL) Department, successfully defended his dissertation entitled, “The Theology of Mercy at the Heart of Pope Francis’ Vision of Evangelization”. The dissertation defense was held in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Sacred Theology (SThD) with specialization in Systematic-Dogmatic Theology at the Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo De Manila University.

Rev. Dr. Marcos had his online dissertation defense via Zoom, and he brilliantly defended Pope Francis’ theology of mercy, showing its positive features as well as the ones that his critics find objectionable. His panel of examiners came from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California and University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

One of the many changes brought about by the global health crisis is conducting an online research defense/presentation. With the pandemic limiting the activities that can be done face-to-face, moving dissertation defenses to different online platforms such as Zoom has been a necessary adjustment for Rev. Dr. Marcos, his dissertation adviser, and panel of examiners. Truly, this pandemic could not stop him from attaining his much-deserved doctorate degree.

With this milestone, Rev. Dr. Marcos has become even more motivated and pumped up in dedicating himself to the thrusts of the University in becoming a partner in serving Filipino communities towards sustainable and holistic development.