The Not Pontifical and Not Catholic University of Peru

SECRETARIA STATUS

N. 3168/12/RS

DECREE

The Secretary of State, fulfilling the mandate of His Holiness Benedict XVI, sent a letter to the Honorable Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru on February 21, 2012, reiterating the demand of adapting the Statutes of said University to the prescriptions of the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, of August 15, 1990 (AAS 82, [1990] 1481-1490), also establishing April 8, 2012, as the final date for the fulfillment of such obligation. This petition was in addition to several others made to the same University in the same sense for the past twenty years.

The deadline initially established was extended repeatedly by petition of the Rectorate of the University up to April 18, 2012, with no fulfillment of the order of the Holy See.

Afterwards, by way of two letters of the Honorable Rector addressed to the Emin. Cardinal Secretary of State, one dated April 13, 2012, the other being an “open letter” dated May 9, 2012, and published by the same Rectorate as a “Warning” [Aviso] in the Lima daily “La República” on May 11, 2012, the notice was delivered of not being able to accede to the required fulfillment of the law.

For all this:

– considering that the aforementioned University was founded on March 1, 1917, with ecclesiastical approval of the Archbishop of Lima, Abp. Pedro Manuel García y Naranjo; recognized by the Peruvian State on the 24th of the same month and year as the Catholic University; erected by Pope Pius XII on September 30, 1942, as a canonical juridical person, subjected as such to the canonical legislation in matters of centers of Higher Education and whose property thus holds the nature of ecclesiastical assets, in the manner established of the can. 1257 § 1, in force;


-considering that art. 1 § 3, of the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, of August 15, 1990, establishes that all Universities subjected to the canonical legislation must adapt its Statutes to the aforementioned Constitution, which was not done up to this moment by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, despite repeated requests;


-considering that the fulfillment of the canonical legislation is compatible with the applicable Peruvian legislation, in the manner established in articles I and XIX of the Agreement celebrated between the Holy See and the Republic of Peru on July 19, 1980 (AAS 72, [1980] 807-812);


-considering that the aforementioned University persists in guiding its institutional initiatives according to criteria that are incompatible with the discipline and morals of the Church;


-considering that no University, even if effectively Catholic and framed according to the Church legislation, may use in its name the title “Catholic” if not with the consent of the corresponding ecclesiastical authority, as established by can. 808 (cf. Canons 803, 216 of the Code of Canon Law);


-considering that the express consent of the Holy See is similarly necessary for the use the name of “Pontifical” [“Ponticio” o “Pontificia”], (Declaratio ad Summi Pontificis dignitatem tuendam, in AAS 102 [2010] 59);

Consequently, in virtue of the mandate

received from His Holiness, Benedict XVI

by the present

Decree

1. It is forbidden to the aforementioned University the use of the title of “Pontifical” in its name, suppressing the concession that had been previously granted to it.

2. It is forbidden likewise that the aforementioned University use in its name the title of “Catholic”, with the removal of the consent that had been previously granted to it in such sense, in the sense of the current can. 808 of the Code of Canon Law.

3. It is declared at the same time that the aforementioned University, as a public juridical person of the Church, remains subjected to the canonical legislation in the matters to which it is currently bound, even if, for the aforementioned reasons, it has been deprived of the right to use in its name the titles of “Pontifical” and “Catholic”, and that the Holy See will continue to insist in the full respect of the canonical discipline.

Notice is to be given of the present Decree to the Congregation for Catholic Education for its effective fulfillment. 

Given in Vatican City, July 11, 2012

Tarcisio Card Bertone

The University has of course responded unfavorably with the Rector of the university saying the following: “This is our official name, and we are recognized nationally and internationally by it. We have the full right to keep using it for as long as we consider it convenient. Any decision that is taken about it is of the responsibility of the ruling bodies of the university itself,” he added.