In another historic step to assign key positions in the Catholic church to lay people, Pope Francis has appointed a married layman, Vincenzo Buonomo, as the new rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He is the first layperson ever to hold this important position in what John Paul II called “the pope’s athenaeum.” Some 3,000 seminarians, priests, women and men religious and lay students from 100 countries, including India, study at the university in Rome for degrees in theology, philosophy, civil and canon law.
Professor Buonomo, 57, is a both a civil and canon lawyer and a specialist in international law. He is a professor at the Lateran University and also teaches future Holy See diplomats in the field of international law at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. The Vatican announced his appointment to lead the 245-year-old higher educational institution on June 2. He succeeds Archbishop Enrico dal Covolo, a Salesian, who served as rector of the Lateran University for the past eight years. Previous rectors include Cardinal Angelo Scola (1995-2002), the runner up in the 2013 conclave, and Archbishop Reno Fisichella (2002 -2010), president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.
The Lateran University was founded in 1773 by Clement XIV. He then entrusted the faculties of theology and philosophy at the Roman College, which up to then were taught by the Jesuits, to the diocesan clergy of Rome. When the Jesuits were restored in 1824, the diocesan clergy continued to teach at what became the Pontifical Roman Seminary University and was eventually relocated to the Lateran Basilica.
Source: America Magazine
