Jul 10
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pontifical lateran university
ROME – Pope Bendict XVI appointed Salesian Father Enrico Dal Covolo the Vice-Chancellor (Rettore) of the Pontifical Lateran University Rome, 30 June. He succeeds Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella titular archbishop of Vicohabentia who is President of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
Fr Dal Covolo is professor of ancient Christian literature at the Pontifical Salesian University. He is a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences and, since 2002, a consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In Lent 2010, he preached the annual seven-day spiritual exercises for the Pope and the Curia. Fr Dal Covolo, 59, is also the general postulator of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
The Pontifical Lateran University (Pontificia Università Lateranense or Lateranum) is a university by pontifical right based in Rome, Italy. The university also hosts the central session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The university is known as “The Pope’s University” as it is the only Pontifical University in Rome which was neither founded nor is currently governed by a Religious Order. The university’s Grand Chancellor is the Vicar General to the Holy Father for the Diocese of Rome, and thus the university is placed directly under the authority of the Pope. The university can boast of four saints among its alumni. Today the Pontifical Lateran University has a student body from over 100 nationalities. The Lateran University was founded in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV after he had suppressed the Society of Jesus, and officially entrusted the clergy of Rome with the mission to teach theology and philosophy to seminarians from Roman Colleges. The university today has five faculties: Philosophy, Theology, Utriusque Iuris, Canon Law and Civil Law.
