Congregation for Catholic Education


This article is part of a series on the
Roman Curia


Dicastery

Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus

Secretariat of State

The Congregation for Catholic Education (in Seminaries and Institutes of Study) (Congregatio de Institutione Catholica (de Seminariis atque Studiorum Institutis)) is the Pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: (1) seminaries (except those regulated by the Congregations for the Evangelization of Peoples and for the Oriental Churches) and houses of formation of religious and secular institutes; (2) universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or civil dependent on ecclesial persons; and (3) schools and educational institutes depending on ecclesiastical authorities.

Pope Sixtus V created the forerunner of the Congregation in 1588, with the Constitution Immensa, to oversee the University of Rome La Sapienza and other notable universities of the time, including Bologna, Paris and Salamanca. Pope Leo XII, in 1824, created the Congregatio studiorum for educational institutions in the Papal States which, in 1870, began to oversee Catholic universities. Pope Saint Pius X confirmed this responsibility in 1908 and Pope Benedict XV erected in 1915 the section for seminaries (which existed within the Consistorial Congregation), joined to it the Congregatio studiorum, and called it Congregatio de Seminariis et Studiorum Universitatibus. In 1967, Pope Paul VI renamed it Sacra Congregatio pro institutione Catholica. The present name "Congregation for Catholic Education (in Seminaries and Institutes of Study)" derives from Pope John Paul II's 1988 apostolic constitution entitled Pastor Bonus. The congregation conducts apostolic visits to Catholic institutions and receives bishops during their quinquennial visits ad limina apostolorum, nominates rectors and erects seminaries.

The current Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (since November 15, 1999) is His Eminence, Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, age 70. The current Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education (since November 10, 2007) is His Excellency, The Most Reverend Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, O.P., age 66. The current Undersecretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education (since January 7, 2002) is The Reverend Monsignor Angelo Vincenzo Zani, age 59. Cardinal Grocholewski is also the Cardinal President of the formally affiliated agency the Pontifical Work for Ecclesiastical Vocations.

To fulfill its mission, this Congregation has four Offices or Departments:

Significant Papal Documents pertaining to the Mission of the Congregation for Catholic Education

Contents

Prefects since 1915

Secretaries since 1913

References

Documents published by the Congregation for Catholic Education

External links