Lima rector says relations with Rome are good

The rector of the Catholic University of Lima (PUCP), which in 2012 was forbidden by the Vatican and Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima from using the title “pontifical”, says that relations between his university and the Vatican are once again on a good footing, writes Francis McDonagh.

Dr Marcial Rubio, who was invited to the February consistory in Rome by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, says there is a desire in the Vatican to solve the dispute. Müller was made a cardinal at the consistory and holds an honorary doctorate from PUCP.

In an interview last week in Lima, Dr Rubio said that he had conversations with CDF prefect Cardinal Müller and with the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, who has responsibility for Catholic universities. “They know the university well. They regard it as a very good university, a Catholic community, that could potentially have a good relationship with the Church,” he said. Sources close to the discussions told the The Tablet that the invitation to the rector was “a sign”. “The link between the PUCP and the Vatican is strong,” said Dr Rubio. “I am working to bring the university closer to the Church hierarchy and they are working to bring the Church hierarchy closer to the university.”

In July 2012 then Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone withdrew permission for the university to use the title “pontifical” and to teach theology. He was backing the Archbishop of Lima Cardinal Cipriani, against CDF prefect and then archbishop Gerhard Müller, who had tried to overturn Cardinal Cipriani’s ban.

Issues to do with university assets, liberation theology and doctrinal unorthodoxy are at the heart of the dispute.

n The Peruvian Church has issued a report highlighting the “alarming” pollution to the ecologically diverse Marañón River and Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve in the north of the country. Mgr Miguel Olaortua Laspra, apostolic vicar of Iquitos, stated the water is “unsuitable for human consumption”.