CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION
(for Educational Institutions)
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Instruction on the Affiliation of Institutes of Higher Studies
The affiliation of institutes of higher studies is encouraged by His Holiness
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium, which lists the
basic criteria for renewing and relaunching ecclesiastical studies for a
missionary Church which goes forth. One of these criteria “concerns the urgent
need for ‘networking’ between those institutions worldwide that cultivate and
promote ecclesiastical studies, in order to set up suitable channels of
cooperation” (VG, Foreword, 4, d). This shows the demanding responsibility
placed on the various disciplines foreseen by ecclesiastical studies, as well as
on the institutions themselves.
Affiliations first appeared in 1936, established by the Sacra Congregatio de
Seminariis et Studiorum Universitatibus. From the 1960s onwards, they spread
throughout Africa, Asia and Europe. With his Apostolic Constitution
Sapientia
Christiana (15 April 1979), Pope John Paul II aimed to encourage them,
affirming that “it is highly desirable that theological study centres, whether
diocesan or religious, be affiliated to a Faculty of Sacred Theology” (art. 62 §
2). Subsequently, the Congregation for Catholic Education published the Notio
affiliationis theologicae, the Normae servandae ad affiliationem
theologicam exsequendam and the Conventio ad affiliandum (1 August
1985), as well as the Notio affiliationis philosophicae, the Normae
servandae ad affiliationem philosophicam exsequendam and the Conventio ad
affiliandum (2 July 2014), which, however, limited affiliations to major
seminaries and Religious houses of study.
With the developments within higher education worldwide, and to promote the
proper recognition of qualifications and degrees obtained by clerics, laity and
religious at ecclesiastical academic institutions, there was a need to update
the regulations governing affiliations. After the promulgation of Pope Francis’
Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium (8 December 2017) and the
attached Norms of Application (27 December 2017), the Congregation for
Catholic Education, drawing on its experience and the invaluable observations
that it has received, “to promote with thoughtful and prophetic determination
the renewal of ecclesiastical studies at every level, as part of the new phase
of the Church’s mission” (VG, Foreword, 1), hereby issues this Instruction on
affiliations of institutes of higher studies to ecclesiastical Faculties, to
provide both for the on-going progress of the said institutes and their suitable
distribution in the various parts of the world.
General Norms
I. Canonical Basis for an Institute’s Affiliation
Art. 1. The affiliation of an institute is governed by article 63 of the
Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium and by articles 50, 69 §§ 1 and
3 of the Norms of Application attached to the same Constitution, as well
as on what is defined and described in this Instruction, taking into account the
law as hitherto applied in ecclesiastical Faculties (q.v. VG, Norms of
Application, art. 1 § 1).
II. Notion and Specific Nature of an Affiliation
Art. 2. The affiliation of an institute, which is different from an
aggregation or incorporation (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 50-51),
is its linking to an ecclesiastical Faculty with the aim of attaining, via the
Faculty, the corresponding academic degree of the first cycle, i.e., the
baccalaureate (q.v. VG, art. 63 § 1).
Art. 3. The affiliated institute, unless specified differently in its
Statutes, is open to all, ecclesiastics or laity, who may be suitably enrolled
in the first cycle of an ecclesiastical Faculty as regards the studies they have
already completed and their moral conduct, and can legally give testimony to the
same (q.v. VG, art. 31; Norms of Application, art. 26).
Art. 4. It the affiliating Faculty’s task and duty to assist and
diligently oversee the affiliated institute, so that the latter’s academic life
is fully and regularly conducted. For that to happen more easily, the
affiliation is usually to be established within the same region (q.v. VG,
Norms of Application, art. 50).
Art. 5. The program of studies at the affiliated institute must be
harmonized with the norms of the Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium
and the attached Norms of Application, for that which regards the
affiliating Faculty’s first cycle. The condition and nature of the affiliated
institute’s studies are properly academic and scientific, just as those of the
affiliating Faculty’s first cycle.
III. Academic Conditions of the Affiliated Institute
Art. 6. The affiliation cannot be granted unless the institute possesses the
necessary requirements for attaining the academic degree of the first cycle. In
fact, only in this way can there be a well-grounded hope that, via the
connection with the Faculty, the desired aim can really be achieved (q.v. VG,
art. 63 § 1). In this regard, the following points are to be observed:
§ 1. One must accurately reflect whether the institute’s creation is necessary
or at least truly useful, and whether it cannot be substituted for in other
ways.
§ 2. The number and quality of the institute’s teachers must be such as to be
able to satisfy the conditions of the basic-level first cycle.
§ 3. All teachers must have gained an appropriate doctorate (q.v. VG, Norms
of Application, art. 19) or at least the licentiate (q.v. VG, art. 50 § 1),
and must be free from other, incompatible duties (q.v. VG, art. 29).
§ 4. There should be a suitable number of ordinary students.
§ 5. The institute must have proper academic facilities, including information
facilities and technical audio-visual equipment. In the first place, it must
have a library (with subscriptions to electronic databases) that fulfils the
academic requirements of the first cycle.
Art. 7. The weekly hours of lessons, exercises and seminars, completed
during each student’s personal study and work, must be sufficient to attain the
number of formative credits suitable for a year of full-time university studies.
Art. 8. § 1. The means of governing the affiliated institute must be
determined in the particular Statutes approved by the Faculty Council (q.v. VG,
Norms of Application, art. 14) and then by the Congregation for Catholic
Education (q.v. VG, art. 7), making sure that they do not conflict with what is
prescribed in the Statutes of the Faculty or University. The academic
authorities of the Faculty, both personal and collegial (q.v. VG, art. 15), are
ipso iure academic authorities of the affiliated institute, to which one
must add the particular authorities who are, at a minimum, the Moderator (the
Ordinary of the place, Hierarch or Major Superior), the Director and the
institute’s Council Members. The duties and offices of all these authorities
must be defined in the Statutes (q.v. VG, art. 11 § 3).
§ 2. The Director should be chosen from among the permanent teachers.
§ 3. It is the Director’s duty to transmit electronically to the Dean of the
Faculty (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 17, 6°), whatever is needed
for the annual updating of the Congregation for Catholic Education’s database.
Art. 9. If the affiliated institute is joined to a major seminary or college,
the Statutes, while maintaining due cooperation in everything pertaining to the
students’ good, must clearly and effectively provide that the academic direction
and administration of the institute are correctly distinct from the governance
and administration of the major seminary or college (q.v. VG, art. 21).
IV. Granting of the Affiliation and the Academic Degrees
Art. 10. § 1. The affiliation is granted by Decree of the Congregation
for Catholic Education (q.v. VG, art. 63 § 1).
§ 2. The same Decree will have expressly to grant to the affiliated institute
canonical public juridic personality, if it did not previously have it.
§ 3. It belongs to the Congregation for Catholic Education to grant by Decree
juridic personality to an affiliated institute that forms part of a civil
University.
Art. 11. The affiliation can be granted to those institutes that have
shown themselves suitable for such over an appropriate length of time, and after
favourable opinions have been obtained both from the Ordinary/Hierarch of the
place and from the Bishops’ Conference/Oriental Hierarchical Structure.
Art. 12. The request must be presented to the Congregation for Catholic
Education by the Chancellor of the affiliating Faculty (q.v. VG, art. 12), after
the Faculty Council (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 14) – and that
of the University, if the Faculty is part of a University – has diligently
examined and approved all the requirements.
Art. 13. The academic degree of the first cycle is conferred by the
affiliating Faculty, whose name (and that of the University, if the Faculty is
part of a University) must appear on the diploma (q.v. VG, Norms of
Application, art. 38).
Art. 14. The degree awarded is the same as that awarded in the
affiliating Faculty at the completion of the first cycle. The canonical name
“baccalaureate” can be accompanied by another expression according to local,
civil university practice, as long as: a) it really corresponds to the canonical
baccalaureate, especially as regards the duration of the relative studies; b)
there is no possibility of confusion either with similar, local civil degrees or
with the expression used for the second-cycle canonical degree, i.e. the
licentiate (q.v. VG, art. 46-47).
Art. 15. Any local expression for the baccalaureate, which must be
identical for all Faculties of a given nation or cultural region (q.v. VG, art.
47), needs the approval of the Congregation for Catholic Education.
Art. 16. The issuing of authentic documents for the granting of the academic
degrees, according to established procedures, belongs to the affiliating
Faculty, or to the University if the Faculty is part of a University (q.v. VG,
Norms of Application, art. 38-39). The affiliated institute will take
care of issuing any further documents (such as the Transcript of
Records, which attests to the examinations sat by the student).
V. Procedure for Obtaining or Renewing an Affiliation
A) Prior Examination and Approval of the Institute to be Affiliated
Art. 17. The proposal to create an affiliated institute must be drawn up by the
Ordinary, Hierarch or Major Superior of the place where the institute is
located, who must address his request to an ecclesiastical Faculty which can
assume the academic responsibility for the institute in question.
Art. 18. The affiliating Faculty, via its delegate or commission for the
affiliation (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 14), must first verify
whether the institute satisfies the prescribed academic conditions (q.v. VG,
art. 63 § 1), including by means of on-site visits.
Art. 19. If the results are favourable, the Chancellor (q.v. VG, art. 12)
of the Faculty (or of the University, if the Faculty is part of a University),
having ascertained that the requirements foreseen by this Instruction are
fulfilled, forwards to the Congregation for Catholic Education, along with his
own opinion:
§ 1. a dossier on the academic conditions found in the institute to be
affiliated, and containing the Faculty’s assessment of the same;
§ 2. the Statutes of the institute to be affiliated, drawn up in a similar way
to those of the Faculty (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, Appendix I, art.
7);
§ 3. the Plan of Studies of the institute’s first cycle, distributed over the
different years, with the total number of ECTS or comparable formative credits
for each discipline (q.v. VG, art. 41-42; Norms of Application, art. 30);
§ 4. the curriculum vitae, studiorum et operum of each of the institute’s
teachers, both permanent and non-permanent;
§ 5. the number of students foreseen, distributed according to their year of
formation;
§ 6. any local expression that will accompany the canonical term “baccalaureate”
(q.v. VG, art. 46-47) and its basis in civil law or ecclesiastical law.
B) Duties of the Congregation for Catholic Education
Art. 20. The affiliation is normally granted ad quinquennium
experimenti gratia. After that period has elapsed, if the results are
favourable, it is renewed ad alterum quinquennium. Should that further
period conclude favourably, the affiliation is granted ad aliud quinquennium.
Successive renewals will be ad aliud quinquennium. If the academic
conditions of the institute, particularly as regards the number of students and
teachers as well as its academic quality, fail to satisfy the necessary
requirements, the affiliation can be suspended or revoked by the Congregation
for Catholic Education.
Art. 21. § 1. For the Congregation for Catholic Education to be able to grant
the affiliation, the competent authorities of the Faculty must offer their
opinion about each individual candidate to be appointed teacher.
§ 2. Those who teach disciplines concerning faith and morals must receive, after
having made their Profession of Faith (q.v. can. 833, n. 7 C.I.C.), the
canonical mission from the Chancellor (or his delegate), which he can grant or
revoke according to the norms of the Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium.
Art. 22. For the affiliation to be renewed, the request must come from
the Chancellor (q.v. VG, art. 12) of the affiliating Faculty (or University),
accompanied by a thorough dossier on the results hitherto achieved from the
affiliation.
Special Norms
Faculty of Theology
Art. 23. According to article 63 § 1 of the Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium, an institute affiliated to a Faculty of Theology must
fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies that are specified in articles
69-76 of the said Constitution, as well as in articles 53-59 of the attached
Norms of Application, with reference to the first cycle.
Art. 24. The studies in an affiliated institute last for five years or
ten semesters (300 ECTS or comparable formative credits) and include two years
of philosophy (120 ECTS or comparable formative credits) and three years of
basic-level theology (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits). If the
institute offers only the three years of basic-level theology, the two years of
philosophy must be completed previously (q.v. VG, art. 74, a), always
distinguishing clearly between this two-year period of philosophy and studies
completed at ecclesiastical Faculties of Philosophy (q.v. VG, Norms of
Application, art. 64 § 5).
Art. 25. The institute must have at least seven permanent teachers of the
theological disciplines. Normally, they are arranged thus: for Sacred Scripture,
for fundamental and dogmatic theology (two teachers), for moral and spiritual
theology, for liturgy, for canon law, for patristics and Church history.
Art. 26. Where the institute has a five-year first cycle in philosophy and
theology, concluding with the baccalaureate in theology, there must be at least
two permanent teachers of philosophy (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, 69 §
3).
Art. 27. Besides the examinations or equivalent tests for each discipline, at
the end of the first cycle there is to be a comprehensive examination (or
equivalent test), whereby the student proves that he or she has fully achieved
the scientific formation intended by the respective cycle (q.v. VG, Norms of
Application, art. 58).
Art. 28. It is highly recommended that theological Study Centres, whether
diocesan/eparchal or Religious, be affiliated to a Faculty of Theology (q.v. VG,
art. 63 § 2).
Art. 29. § 1. The affiliated institute has the special duty of taking care of
the scientific theological formation of those preparing for the priesthood and
those who are preparing to hold some particular ecclesiastical office;
therefore, it is necessary that there be a suitable number of priest teachers
(q.v. VG, art. 76 § 1).
§ 2. To that end, there may also be special disciplines, suitable for
seminarians (q.v. Congregation for the Clergy, Ratio Fundamentalis
Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 8 December 2016, nn. 176-184). Moreover, the
said affiliated institute can suitably establish – in dialogue and in mutual
cooperation with the formators of the major seminary – the Ministerial Year
which is required, after the completion of the five-year basic-level course of
studies, for the priesthood. This can conclude with the granting of a special
diploma (q.v. VG, art. 76 § 2).
Faculty of Canon Law
Art. 30. An institute of higher studies cannot be affiliated to a Faculty
of Canon Law.
Faculty of Philosophy
Art. 31. According to article 63 § 1 of the Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium, an institute affiliated to a Faculty of Philosophy must
fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies that are specified in articles
81-84 of the said Constitution, as well as in articles 64-69 of the attached
Norms of Application, with reference to the first cycle.
Art. 32. The first-cycle studies of the affiliated institute last for
three years (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits) or six semesters (q.v.
VG, art. 82, a).
Art. 33. The institute must have at least five permanent teachers (q.v. VG,
Norms of Application, art. 69 § 2), arranged thus: one for metaphysics, one
for philosophy of nature, one for philosophical anthropology, one for moral and
political philosophy, one for logic and philosophy of knowledge (q.v. VG,
Norms of Application, art. 67 § 1).
Other Faculties
Art. 34. According to article 63 § 1 of the Apostolic Constitution
Veritatis Gaudium, an institute affiliated to any Faculty other than of
theology or philosophy must fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies
that are specified in articles 85-87 of the said Constitution, as well as in
article 70 of the attached Norms of Application.
Art. 35. The first-cycle studies of the affiliated institute last for
three years or six semesters (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits).
Art. 36. The affiliated institute must have at least five permanent teachers of
the principal disciplines (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 31).
Final Norms
Art. 37. This Instruction goes into force on the first day of the academic year
2021-2022 or on the first day of the academic year 2022, according to the
academic calendar used in each region.
Art. 38. § 1. By 8 September 2022, every institute that is already affiliated
must present to the Congregation for Catholic Education, via the affiliating
Faculty, its Statutes and Plan of Studies, revised in accordance with this
Instruction.
§ 2. Any changes to the Statutes or Plan of Studies require the approval of the
Congregation for Catholic Education.
Art. 39. Only the Congregation for Catholic Education can dispense from the
observance of any article of this Instruction.
Art. 40. This Instruction replaces all documents (Notio affiliationis
theologicae, Normae servandae ad affiliationem theologicam exsequendam,
Conventio ad affiliandum, Notio affiliationis philosophicae,
Normae servandae ad affiliationem philosophicam exsequendam, Conventio ad
affiliandum) hitherto in force.
Art. 41. Norms and customs presently in force that are contrary to this
Instruction are abrogated.
On 1 December 2020, the Holy Father approved this document of the Congregation
for Catholic Education and authorized its publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for Catholic Education, 8 December
2020, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Giuseppe Card. VERSALDI
Prefect
Angelo Vincenzo ZANI
Titular Archbishop of Volturno
Secretary |