Speakers

Antonio Brandi was born in 1952 in Rome, has been living and working in several European countries since 1971 and has operated in the fields of transport and tourism. Over the last 19 years he has been involved in non-governmental organizations. He is now a retired entrepreneur. Antonio is co-founder and president of Provita e Famiglia Onlus and is now dedicating his life to the Good battle for Christ, Life and Family.

Ante Čaljkušić is a husband, father of five children (one in Heaven), president of the association Croatia for Life, co-founder of the 40 Days for Life in Croatia, director, producer, screenwriter, writer, and have a degree on theology. He has been active in the pro-life movement for more than a decade, collaborating at the beginning with fr. Marko Glogović, and through publishing. Later, through the association Croatia for Life, he initiated and led many projects to build a culture of life, and he is currently working on the feature film „Hunting Tesla“.

Daniël Eijkelenkamp (born 1991). He has been a protestant for 25 years since his childhood. In 2017 he became Roman Catholic in Fátima after praying and studying a lot. During this time he also finished masters in History and Philosophy in Amsterdam. He has been doing Pro-life work as a volunteer since the early 2010s. Right now he represents the Pater Koopmanstichting, the 50-year old Catholic Pro-Life Foundation of the Netherlands named and founded by a Dutch missionary priest from Brazil.

Marina Katinić Pleić was born in 1984 in Zagreb, where she completed elementary school and the Classical High School. At the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb, she graduated in philosophy and Croatian language and literature. In 2020, at the same faculty, she received her doctorate in philosophy with the topic „Philosophizing with children and young people in integrative-bioethical education“. The book „Integrative thinking: a response to the triple crisis of postmodernity“, created on the basis of a doctoral dissertation, was published as part of the Pergamena bioethical library. She participated as an exhibitor at international symposia several times. She twice co-authored a textbook on Ethics for the first grade of grammar schools and vocational schools. She has published several papers in prominent domestic scientific journals and one international journal related to bioethical and educational-philosophical topics, and has spoken about bioethical topics at several round tables, public forums and in the media. She also published five collections of poems, and regularly publishes poetry in literary magazines. She published several essays on literature, literary criticism, afterwords…

Dr Gordon Macdonald is the Chief Executive of Care Not Killing a post he has held since April 2019. Prior to that Gordon worked in political advocacy work focusing on the Scottish Parliament. In that role, he chaired the Care Not Killing Scotland committee which led the campaign against the previous two Bills which sought to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in Scotland. He has a PhD in political economy and has been active in politics in a personal capacity for a number of years. Care Not Killing was set up in 2006 to campaign for improvements in palliative care and against attempts to change the law to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia. Care Not Killing has established the Our Duty of Care campaign for doctors and other healthcare staff wishing to declare a principled stance against assisted suicide and euthanasia and who refuse to participate in these practices.

Petra Milković was born in 1991 in Zagreb. She is married and the mother of four children (two on earth, two in Heaven), and is the president of the 40 Days for Life – Croatia, and vice president of the biggest pro-life association in Croatia, Croatia for Life. He holds a master’s degree in history and pedagogy.

Patricia Sandoval is an American pro-life activist whose life story is a difficult journey that leads to the extraordinary triumph of God’s mercy – a mercy that patiently waits for us all. Patricia came from a broken home, bad relationships, three miscarriages, a job at Planned Parenthood (where she was told never to reveal what she saw), followed by meth addiction and homelessness. But the Lord glorified himself in her life, which she now witnesses all over the world.

Luka Tripalo (Zagreb, 1994) graduated in 2019 at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry of the University of Zagreb. He published poems, translations and essays in various literary magazines, on the Third Program of Croatian Radio and in the weekly Glas Koncila, where he works as a journalist. He is the author of two books, the winner of several literary awards and a regular member of the Society of Croatian Writers.