Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - A special concelebration of the Eucharist to invoke the Holy Spirit, presided on 12 October by Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Urban University will inaugurate the new academic year 2006/2007 of the Pontifical Urban University. The rite will take place in the Chapel of the Pontifical Urban College at 9am. To follow there will be an academic act in the Aula Magna.
The Pontifical Urban University was elevated to the rank of Pontifical university in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. It has its roots in Urban College founded by Pope Urban VIII with the Papal Bull "Immortalis Dei Filius" 1 August 1627. The college has always been a missionary institution at the service of the Church in her missionary apostolate and to form missionaries and experts in the field of Missiology and other disciplines necessary for the Church’s evangelising activity. For three centuries the College was at the historical building in Piazza di Spagna, today the offices of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and in 1926 it was moved to the Gianicolo Hill. In 1997 the University started a process of re-structuring and in October 2006 it was given new statutes and regulations. It is affiliated with 89 Seminaries and Institutes in Africa, Asia, America, Oceania and Europe. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 9/10/2006 - Righe 18; Parole 237)
