School of Canon Law

Diritto Canonico

The School of Canon Law strives to prepare canonists with a deep theoretical and practical knowledge of Church law, which helps them develop legal skills with pastoral sensibility, while meeting the practical demands of legal praxis among God's people.

English brochure


Teaching follows a systematic method. It attempts to integrate the many juridical institutions emerging from the study of the Church’s Law within the diverse branches of canonical science. All this, in conformity with the Church’s vision of herself as expressed in the Second Vatican Council.

The program’s realist perspective helps the student to appreciate the dimension of justice that belongs to the salvific goods of the Church even prior to their reception in positive law.  This metaphysical realism offers a much richer viewpoint than the old positivistic outlook, which still influences some currents of canonical thought.  Students learn to seek justice while exercising legal prudence in fidelity to sound ecclesiastical tradition.
The program integrates theoretical study with courses on legal praxis.

The School has a large number of permanent professors as well as many prestigious visiting professors from the Roman Curia and from all over the world.

The School’s research and teaching are enriched by the staff’s experience in various dicasteries of the Holy See and in the Tribunals of the Vicariate of Rome. Close links to and regular academic collaboration with colleagues from other universities of Rome and of other countries also enrich the School, along with the theological research and collaboration of the School of Theology.

 

Sezione: 

In evidenza

On Wednesday, October 9th, 2024, as a welcoming gesture and following tradition, the Welcome Day for New Students took place.

The program included, at 12:45 PM in the Giovanni Paolo II Auditorium, a greeting from the Rector, Fernando Puig; at 1:00 PM, a buffet in the Courtyard of the Palazzo dell'Apollinare; and at 2:00 PM, a return to the Auditorium for an Information Session, where more detailed information about the University and the services available to students was provided.

Poster

On Monday, October 7, 2024, in the presence of the Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Bishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, and the Prelate of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of the University, Mons. Fernando Ocáriz, the inauguration ceremony of the 2024/2025 academic year took place, marking the 40th year of activity for the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

The ceremony began with the celebration of the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare, the University's chapel, presided over by Bishop Pagazzi.

Following this, the solemn Academic Act took place in the Aula Magna, with the inaugural lecture given by the Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education on the theme The University as a Home of Study, followed by inaugural addresses from the Rector Magnificus, Rev. Prof. Fernando Puig, and the Grand Chancellor.

Among the 21 new Cardinals announced by Pope Francis at the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, October 6, 2024, is alumnus George Koovakad, currently an official in the Secretariat of State and responsible for Papal Travels.

Born in Chethipuzha (India) on August 11, 1973, he was ordained a priest in 2004 and incardinated in Changanacherry. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See and worked in the nunciatures in Algeria, Korea, Iran, and Costa Rica.

At our School of Canon Law, he obtained his Doctorate in June 2006, with a thesis on The Obligation of Poverty for Secular Clerics in the Codes of Canon Law (advisor: Rev. Prof. Luis Navarro). He had previously earned a Baccalaureate (2002) and a Licentiate (2004).

To the new Cardinal, who will be created along with the others in the Consistory on December 8, 2024, the best wishes and prayers of the Academic Community.

On Tuesday, October 1, 2024, the academic community participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new Rector, Rev. Prof. Fernando Puig.

The event was presided over by the Vice Grand Chancellor of the University, Monsignor Mariano Fazio, who also welcomed the professors who will assume new positions: Rev. Prof. Giulio Maspero (Dean of Theology), Rev. Prof. Thierry Sol (Dean of Canon Law), Rev. Prof. Giovanni Zaccaria (Vice-Rector), and Prof. Carla Rossi Espagnet (Director of ISSR at Apollinare).

The outgoing Rector, Don Luis Navarro, thanked the academic community for the support received during his eight-year term, also recalling the progress made by Santa Croce during this time.

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