Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Peru, the Vatican intervenes and the university rebels

The Vatican has stepped in to close an old debate in the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP).

But the authorities of this institution have decided to rebel once again. 

They are not willing to accept the instructions of the Congregation for Catholic Education of the Holy See and, still less, from the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne. 

A revolt that can be costly.

On August 19, the Archbishop of Lima diffused a letter from the Vatican containing orders to ensure that the house of studies would be ruled by the laws of its country and by the Apostolic Constitution "Ex Corde Ecclesiae", the document that regulates all the Catholic universities in the world.

The PUCP represents a rare and unique case. Of the 9 Catholic universities in the South American country, 8 are governed by the Apostolic Constitution. Only one is not: the Pontifical University.

For this reason and to fulfill the Roman directives, it will have to normalize its statutes, a reform that its rector, Marcial Rubio, and the University Assembly do not seem to be willing to do, despite being the ones who sent the document to Rome for its approval. 

They prefer not to change anything and remain as they have been until now, with absolute independence from the Archdiocese of Lima, the last guarantor of Catholicity of that centre of education.

Archbishop Cipriani, despite being formally the Grand Chancellor, has not been able to show his authority so far. Something similar has happened with his predecessors since 1972.

The clash of this so-called "rebellious university" with Church authorities has a long history, created over the last 50 years. In its classrooms have studied the protagonists of social and political dissent in Peru, of the radical left and "Catholic progressivism".

It has furthermore welcomed conferences in which Catholic doctrine has been openly criticized, its defenders attacked, and the salaries of bishops and Cardinals debated publicly.

One of the "star" professors was Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino: a Dominican priest known as the father of "liberation theology" and whose work has been on several occasions under the watchful eyes of the Vatican, though it has never been condemned by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

With this precedent, during the Seventies of the last century, a new model for the Catholic University was born: absolute autonomy, above all ideological and doctrinal. A concept that is not aligned with the latest statutes approved by the Vatican (from 1967).

But in 1999 John Paul II approved "Ex Corde Ecclesiae" and asked all Catholic universities to adhere to the document. The PUCP took more than ten years to send its text to Rome; in November of 2009 it delivered the document that now the Holy See has asked it to modify.

Among other things, the letter from the Congregation for Catholic Education has requested that the Grand Chancellor (the Archbishop of Lima) have the power to appoint the Rector of the University, after having received three proposals from the University Assembly.

It also indicated that teachers must respect Catholic doctrine and morals in their research and teaching, while the Peruvian bishops must participate in university life through the Chancellor, who, in a sense, would be the Vatican representative.

The Vatican decision was a cold shower to Marcial Rubio, who has supported the independence of the University Assembly as the only entity that can appoint the person who will occupy the Rectorate of the institution and announced that a Commission will be created that will assess the Vatican's "proposals" before issuing a new release within 30 days. In addition, Cipriani has been accused of "making a scandal” because he is “powerless as an orphan".

"From the canonical point of view, it is true that the Archbishop can deny an institution the right to call itself Catholic. In any case, the institution will decide whether or not to remove the name. We are the Pontifical University of Perú and want to continue as such, but if they take away that name from us, we would see what the Assembly decides,” said the Rector.

Among students and professors, a campaign has been created according to which the Archbishop of Lima's interest is to "take control of the university's millions" and allow "Opus Dei to come in and direct it." This as a clear citation of the cardinal's affiliation with the association commonly known as "the Work".

However, the reality is very different: the PUCP was founded in 1917 thanks to the legacy of a wealthy Peruvian thinker, José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma, who conditioned his support for the establishment of a Catholic university. For this reason there is an article of the "Constitution" of this institution, still in force, that provides that if it were to disappear, all its assets would be transferred to the Archbishop of Lima, who should redirect them to another educational program.

So, if the current leaders still do not listen to the Vatican's instructions, there is a risk of being left without anything: they would lose the titles of "Pontifical" and "Catholic" from their name, as well as resources and land.

"We asked", the Archbishop of Lima stated, "that a decision be made. I am not accusing anyone of anything, but neither do I graciously accept those who want to reduce the identity of a university to certain unfortunate action by its authorities."