Vatican City, Jul 21, 2012 / 07:07 am
The Vatican has announced it is stripping the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru of its Catholic identity after the elite university repeatedly refused to comply with the Church's requirements for colleges.
"The Holy See, with Decree of His Eminence the Secretary of State, under a specific Pontifical mandate, has decided to remove from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru the right to use in its name the titles "Pontifical" and "Catholic" in accordance with canon law," reads a Vatican statement issued in Spanish and Italian on July 21.
Today's move follows months of discussions between both sides, which began after a 2011 Vatican inspection of the university carried out by Cardinal Peter Erdo of Budapest. He traveled to Peru, where he found the Lima-based institution at odds with the Catholic Church in several significant areas of policy.
Today's statement explains that the university's management has, in fact, continually refused to comply with the Church's guidelines over the past 22 years, despite numerous requests to do so by the Vatican.