INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
OF PASTORAL MANAGEMENT
The history of the Pontifical Lateran University began in 1773 when Pope Clement XIV entrusted the Roman College’s Faculties of Theology and Philosophy to the clergy of Rome. In 1824, Pope Leo XII changed the institution’s location, situating it in the Sant’Apollinare Palazzo. In 1853, Pius IX established the Faculties of Canon Law and Civil Law as well as the Pontifical Institute Utriusque Iuris.
In 1958, the Athenaeum acquired its present organization when Pius XII instituted the Pontifical Pastoral Institute, later dedicated with the name of Pope John Paul II’s first encyclical, Redemptor hominis. The following year, John XXIII granted it status as a Pontifical University.
Present in 17 countries with 43 locations and numerous institutes, our university connects more than 5,000 students from five continents. It is in this international and multicultural environment that students and teachers come together, creating a privileged forum for human and intellectual enrichment.
The internationality of the Pontifical Lateran University is evident in the network of institutions, which in different ways pursue institutional and academic relations with our university. Aggregated and affiliated academic entities, located on almost all continents, are a key way to increase the educational offerings of our university. Their presence highlights the nature of the Pontifical University and its desire to be open to diverse and varied cultures, thus offering a platform where these cultures may encounter one another in keeping with an authentic Christian spirit.
Among these, there are four Incorporated Institutes which have an even stronger and privileged link to the Lateran, functioning as graduate study programs for the Faculty of Theology, while at the same time enjoying complete autonomy. These are: the Alphonsian Academy (Graduate Institute of Moral Theology), the Augustinianum (Patristic Institute), the Camillianum (Theology Institute of Pastoral Health Care), the Claretianum (Institute of the Theology of the Consecrated Life) and the Sanyasa Institute of Consecrated Life.
Enrico dal Covolo (born 5 October 1950) is the current rector of the Pontifical Lateran University since his appointment on 30 June 2010. In addition he is also the postulator of the cause of canonization of Pope John Paul I.
Bishop dal Covolo was born in Feltre, Italy. He made his novitate at Albarè and took his first vows on 2 October 1973. He was ordained at age 29, in Milan, on 22 December 1979 as a Salesian of Saint John Bosco.
In 1986, then-Fr. dal Covolo was transferred to the Vice Province of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome and in the following years. Fr dal Covolo held a number of academic appointments: professor of ancient Christian literature and a specialist in the Fathers of the Church, dean of the Faculty of Literature between 1993 and 2000, and between 2000 and 2003 Vice-Rector of the University.
Bishop dal Covolo is a Member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, a Consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Member of the Commission dealing with Dispensations from priestly obligations, and a Consultor of the Congregation for the Clergy.
In 2003, then-Fr. dal Covolo was appointed by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Pascual Chávez, to serve as the Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family. Fr. dal Covolo is the second Salesian on the Commission for Sacred Archaeology- Fr. Antonio Baruffa was confirmed for a further five-year period.
He was appointed as rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, on 30 June 2010, replacing Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, who had also been serving until then as an Auxiliary Bishop of Rome and as President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Archbishop Fisichella had been appointed the first President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.
In recognition of his new responsibilities as the Pontifical Lateran University's rector, Father dal Covolo was appointed Titular Bishop of Heraclea on 15 September 2010. Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, S.D.B., Cardinal Secretary of State, was the Principal Consecrator at the Episcopal Ordination.
On Tuesday, 18 September 2012, Bishop dal Covolo was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as one of the papally-appointed Synod Fathers (as a non-diocesan ordinary, but still an episcopal member, he will represent the University) for the upcoming October 2012 1th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.
The Lateran Centre of Advanced Studies (Postgraduate Schools) is an academic department of the Pontifical Lateran University, focused on training researchers and professionals through higher education and lifelong learning. The Centre is engaged in furthering the new evangelization and in the prospect of a fruitful exchange of knowledge and faith with the thought and the life of man in his cultural, social and economic dimensions.
For this purpose, CLAS looks after a highly specialized academic training: postgraduate programs, interdisciplinary research, international and inter-institutional collaboration with institutions who have the same goals of excellence.
