CDF prefect intervening on behalf of rebellious Peruvian university?

February 06, 2013

Faculty members at the school formerly known as the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) are claiming that the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has sided with them in a conflict with Lima’s Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani.

The CDF prefect, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, reportedly wrote that theology professors at PUCP may continue to offer instruction until a final resolution of the school’s long-running struggle with the Vatican. Cardinal Cipriani had withdrawn permission for the theologians to teach.

Last July the Vatican announced that PUCP could no longer identify itself as a “Catholic” or “Pontifical” university. That decision came after a long series of warnings to leaders of the Peruvian institution, who had refused to accept guidelines from the Holy See.

The rector of PUCP, Marcial Rubio, hopes to count Archbishop Müller as an ally in his struggle for autonomy from ecclesiastical oversight. The German archbishop once studied at the PUCP under the direction of Father Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian Dominican who is regarded as a founder of Liberation Theology; Archbishop Müller received an honorary doctorate from PUCP in 2008.

 

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Further information:

• Müller stands up for Peru’s “rebel” university (La Stampa)
• Peru university stripped of 'Catholic' status (CWN, 7/23/12)