Pontifical university and athenaeum


A pontifical university or athenaeum is an ecclesiastical university established or approved directly by the Holy See, composed of three main ecclesiastical faculties and at least one other faculty. According to the apostolic constitution Veritatis gaudium, an institution with four ecclesiastical faculties is canonically erected as an Pontifical university, while one with three ecclesiastical faculties is erected as an Pontifical athenaeum. These academic institutes deal specifically with Christian philosophy and related disciplines, and the Church's mission of spreading the Gospel, as proclaimed in the apostolic constitution Sapientia ''christiana. As of 2018, they are governed by the apostolic constitution Veritatis gaudium'' issued by Pope Francis on 8 December 2017.

Academic structure

Pontifical universities follow a European system of study hour calculation, granting the baccalaureate, the licentiate, and the ecclesiastical doctorate. These ecclesiastical degrees are prerequisites to certain offices in the Roman Catholic Church, especially considering that bishop candidates are selected mainly from priests who are doctors of sacred theology or canon law and that ecclesiastical judges and canon lawyers must have at least the Licentiate of Canon Law.
In 2003, the Holy See took part in the Bologna Process, a series of meetings and agreements between European states designed to foster comparable quality standards in higher education, and in the "Bologna Follow-up Group". Pope Benedict XVI established the Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties, an attempt to promote and develop a culture of quality within the ecclesiastical institutions and enable them to aim in developing internationally valid quality criteria.
Compared to secular universities, which are academic institutions for the study and teaching of a broad range of disciplines, ecclesiastical or pontifical universities are "usually composed of three principal ecclesiastical faculties, theology, philosophy, and canon law, and at least one other faculty. A pontifical university specifically addresses Christian revelation and disciplines correlative to the evangelical mission of the Church as set out in the apostolic constitution Sapientia christiana.

List of pontifical universities

Argentina
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
France
Germany
Guatemala
India
Ireland
Italy
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Lebanon
Mexico
Montenegro
  • Pontifical Catholic University of Montenegro, Kotor
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Spain
Ukraine
  • Superior Institute of Religious Sciences of St. Thomas Aquinas, Kyiv; since 1992. An institution of higher education in Kyiv, conducted by the Dominican Friars of the Vicariate General of Ukraine and affiliated to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
United States
Uruguay