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Apontifical university orathenaeum is aCatholicuniversity established by and directly under the authority of theHoly See. It is licensed to grantacademic degrees in sacred faculties, the most important of which aretheology,canon law, andphilosophy. Pontifical universities follow aEuropean system of degrees in the sacred faculties, granting thebaccalaureate, thelicentiate, and thedoctorate.
As defined by the1983Code of Canon Law:
Can. 814 The prescripts established for universities apply equally to other institutes of higher learning.
Can. 815 Ecclesiastical universities or faculties, which are to investigate the sacred disciplines or those connected to the sacred and to instruct students scientifically in the same disciplines, are proper to the Church by virtue of its function to announce the revealed truth.
Can. 816 §1. Ecclesiastical universities and faculties can be established only through erection by theApostolic See or with its approval; their higher direction also pertains to it.
§2. Individual ecclesiastical universities and faculties must have their own statutes and plan of studies approved by the Apostolic See.
Can. 817 No university or faculty which has not been erected or approved by the Apostolic See is able to confer academic degrees which have canonical effects in the Church.[1]
Independent institutions or individual faculties at non-pontifical universities may also be given charters by theHoly See (under canon 814) to grant pontifical degrees, usually in one or two specific fields. These are referred to as a "pontifical faculty," "pontifical institute," or "pontifical athenaeo" to distinguish them from an entire "pontifical university," which incorporates at least four faculties, including theology, canon law, and philosophy.
Thevicariate (diocese) of Rome has established an office for campus ministry and the pastoral care of students, the Office ofPastorale Universitaria. This office serves students at the pontifical universities as well as those enrolled at state universities.
Pontifical universities divide studies into 3 cycles: the first cycle of varying duration, after which is obtained a Bachelor (Baccalaureato), the second cycle, which leads to the conferment of a License degree (Licenza), and finally the third cycle, which grant aGraduate degree (Dottorato).[2][3] The duration of courses varies from university to university.
InItaly "degrees inSacred Theology and other specific ecclesiastical disciplines (Sacred Scriptures,Canon Law,Spirituality,Sacred Liturgy,Missiology, andReligious Sciences),[4] conferred by a Faculty approved by theHoly See are recognized by theState" pursuant to art. 10/II of the 25 March 1985 n.21 Law (OJ No 28, April 10, 1985). However, no measures were taken designed to establish a priori the equivalence with the titles conferred by Italian universities. It is therefore not possible to predetermine a mandatory equivalence for qualifications issued by pontifical universities with those issued by state universities. Indeed, inItaly, constant changes make it very complex to unify a university curriculum with the problem of equality that must be resolved, at their request, from time to time by the relevant Ministry of Education, University and Research.[5]
Generally, Pontifical universities are composed of the three traditional ecclesiastical faculties of Theology, Philosophy, and Canon Law. Additionally, they might include the ecclesiastical faculties of Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Liturgy, Spirituality, Missiology, and Religious Sciences. However, after approval from the Holy See, faculties for other ecclesiastical and non-ecclesiastical degrees have also been formed in Pontifical institutions. The Apostolic ConstitutionVeritatis Gaudium (in its Appendix II)[6] lists the following:Christian Archeology,Bioethics,Social communications,Civil Law (andUtriusque iuris),[7]Christian andClassical Letters,Holistic Ecology Studies,Judaic Studies andJewish-Christian Relations,Sacred Music,Ancient Near Eastern Studies,Psychology,Educational Sciences,Social Sciences (which include theSocial Doctrine of the Church),[8]Church History (which includes theCultural Heritage of the Church),[9]Arab andIslamic Studies,Oriental Studies,Studies on Marriage and Family, andStudies in Peace Sciences. Although not included in the list, the studies ofPatristic Sciences should be mentioned as well, since theAugustinian Patristic Institute was specifically founded for the study of both Western Patristics (Theology of the Church Fathers) and Western Patrology (Lives and Writings of Church Fathers), while its Eastern counterparts are studied at thePontifical Oriental Institute.
Rome has twenty-two pontifical institutions.[10] They are organized as pontifical universities (with respect to can. 815), and pontifical athenaea, institutes of higher education, and faculties (these with respect to can. 814). (The Religious Order or other ecclesiastical body responsible for the administration of the university is listed in parentheses.)
Four historical Pontifical Institutions in Rome have been incorporated into larger Pontifical Universities becoming discipline-specific faculties:
Some Roman Pontifical Institutions are associated with other institutions inJerusalem:
For completeness of information, a pontifical institute of higher learning, thePontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, takes care of the preparation of thepriest for the servicediplomacy of theHoly See of variousnunciatures or inSecretary of State of the Holy See.
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| Academies | Life,Sciences,Social Sciences Dicastery for Culture and Education:Archaeology,Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon,Latin,Martyrs,Mary,St. Thomas Aquinas,Theology Abolished:Arcadia,Immaculate Conception |
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