Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru must amend its statutes in conformity with Vatican norms for the good of the university and the whole church in Peru, said the Vatican’s secretary of state.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone met with the university’s rector, Marcial Rubio Correa, Feb. 21 to discuss “the conclusions the Holy See has reached following intense dialogue and numerous meetings over the course of many years” between the university’s grand chancellor, Cardinal Juan Cipriani Thorne of Lima, his predecessors and the university, said a written statement released the same day by the Vatican.
The cardinal also told Rubio the results of an apostolic visitation made to the university in December by Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary.
The Vatican’s conclusions “took particular account of the outcome of the apostolic visit and of the proposal presented by the rector at the end of that visit,” it said.
The Vatican is requesting that the university’s statutes “be regularized as soon as possible, adapting them to the apostolic constitution ‘Ex Corde Ecclesiae’ for the good of the (university) itself and of the church in Peru.”
“Ex Corde Ecclesiae” is an apostolic constitution that outlines the identity and mission of Catholic colleges and provides universal norms to ensure colleges maintain these standards. Issued in 1990 by Blessed John Paul II, the document officially went into effect in 2001.
“Given the evident importance of safeguarding the Catholic identity of the university,” the Vatican asked the university to present the statutes for approval by Easter, April 8, and include “the amendments indicated to the university” last July by the Vatican.
“Cardinal Bertone expressed the hope that the academic community would accept these indications, so that the (university) may increasingly dedicate itself to its mission of offering young people a solid formation, rooted in faithfulness to the magisterium, as a guarantee of the great contribution the university is called to make to the country,” it said.
Cardinal Cipriani has publicly objected to some of the university’s activities and said a Catholic university must provide a moral evaluation and the church’s teaching on issues.
The cardinal has sought that his role as university’s grand chancellor be less honorific and more actively involved in overseeing the university.
The university has also been mired in a longstanding dispute with the Archdiocese of Lima over property that was willed to the university more than half a century ago.
Cardinal Cipriani has publicly questioned the way the university manages the inheritance and has insisted on more transparency and accountability to the archdiocese.
