Jesuits are taking action to resolve the dispute between the Holy See and the University of Peru which was stripped of the titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic” on 21 July, by decree of the Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone. The Jesuit Provincial of Peru, Fr. Miguel Gabriel Cruzado Silveri sent a long and articulate letter addressed to the President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Salvador Piñeiro, and copied to Cardinals Bertone, Zenon Grocolewski (Prefect for Catholic Education) and the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Müller, in which he proposed a return to dialogue in order to reach a shared solution.
The Holy See intervened after a decade-long controversy: the Vatican communiqué issued last month, stated that the university had on various occasions unilaterally modified its statutes against the interests of the Church. From 1990 onwards, it ignored requests to bring its statutes in line with the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
The constant tensions with the Archdiocese of Lima and the problems which arose as a result of certain teachings introduced by the university, which the Vatican did not consider to be in line with the magisterium of the Catholic Church, led to the shocking decision.
In a letter dated 20 August, Fr. Cruzado mentions the important role the Jesuits played in the university throughout its history. He says that the current situation is triggering discontent and asks that every possible effort be made to ensure a return to dialogue. He states that the university “is still an ideal and efficient instrument for evangelisation and to encourage essential values to grow.”
He speaks about the ability of the PUCP to “mould and transmit the Christian education according to Church guidelines” and recalls how top ecclesiastical figures had visited it over the years, including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the current Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Müller.
The Provincial of Peru also mentions the presence of numerous priests and monks from various movements and the university’s traditional openness to people of other religious backgrounds: “The PUCP is a meeting place for faith and reason in our society.”
Cruzado does not deny that problems do exist but suggests a concrete way to solve the conflict, maintaining that this “could form part of the proposal for a reform of the statutes” discussed in the pre-agreement between representatives of the Archdiocese of Lima and the PUCP on 31 March.
The Provincial pointed out that this “could lead to a definitive solution” to the problem.
“No agreement - the Jesuit superior concluded - would mean that the Church would risk losing an academic institution of the highest quality and excellence and could cause stances to become even more polarised and feelings of bitterness and opposition to the Catholic Church to grow.”