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Reform of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy:

The Establishment of the Academic Institute of Diplomatic Sciences

With the Chirograph  Il Ministero Petrino  of 25 March 2025, the Holy Father has updated the formation programme of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, an institution that since 1701 has been training the diplomats of the Holy See. In line with the reforming vision promoted by Pope Francis for ecclesiastical academic institutions, as outlined in the Apostolic Constitution  Veritatis Gaudium , the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy has been reconfigured as an Institute of higher academic training in the field of Diplomatic Sciences. This decision is part of a broader vision of updating and strengthening ecclesiastical studies in accordance with the international standards of higher education.

The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy will offer a curriculum of formation that integrates legal, historical, political, economic and linguistic skills with a solid scientific foundation. The aim is to provide the students - young priests from dioceses all over the world - with a complete and suitable preparation for the diplomatic mission entrusted to them by the Holy See.

The programme of formation proposed for future Pontifical Representatives combines theoretical skills with an approach to work and a lifestyle capable of guaranteeing a profound understanding of the complex dynamics of international relations. Such training requires competence and interpretative skills, a solid aptitude for discernment and the readiness to face the challenges of an increasingly synodal Church. In this framework, personal qualities such as closeness, attentive listening, consistent witness, dialogue and a fraternal approach, combined with the humility and meekness that characterize the priestly vocation modelled on the example of the Good Shepherd, are indispensable. These elements are all essential for a diplomatic activity inspired by the Gospel, capable of building bridges, overcoming obstacles and promoting practical paths towards the pursuit of peace, religious freedom and cooperation among nations.

CHIROGRAPH

of  His Holiness Pope Francis

for the Reform of the

PONTIFICAL ECCLESIASTICAL ACADEMY

The Petrine ministry, in its service to the entire Church, has always demonstrated fraternal concern for the local Churches and their Pastors, so that they can experience the communion of truth and grace which the Lord established as the foundation of his Church.

In the constant effort to bring the closeness of the Pope to peoples and Churches, the Papal Representatives sent to different nations and territories are a point of reference. They are the custodians of that solicitude which moves from the centre to the peripheries, to make them sharers in the Church’s missionary outreach, and then to lead them back to that centre with their needs, reflections and aspirations. Even at times when the shadows of evil appear to infuse every action with confusion and distrust, they remain “the vigilant and lucid eye of the Successor of Peter for the Church and the world” (FRANCIS,  Address to Participants in the Meeting of Papal   Representatives , 17 September 2016). Called to make felt the presence of the Bishop of Rome, the “perpetual and visible principle and foundation of the unity both of the Bishops and of the whole company of the faithful” (SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution  Lumen Gentium , 23), they carry out, in the countries to which they are sent, a pastoral activity that reflects their priestly spirit, their human qualities and their professional abilities.

In addition to this activity, both priestly and evangelical, placed at the service of individual Churches, the mission entrusted to the Pope’s diplomats includes representing him before public authorities. This aspect of their work manifests the effective exercise of that innate and independent right of legation that is also an element of the Petrine office and whose exercise is to be respected by the rules of international law that are basic to the life of the community of nations (cf. CODE OF CANON LAW, can. 362). In our time, it is clear that this service is no longer limited to those countries where the presence of the Church has long been grounded in the preaching of the Gospel, but is also carried out in places where it is a new and growing community, or in international forums where, through its representatives, the See of Peter closely follows debates, evaluates arguments and, in the light of its specific ethical and religious dimension, proposes an appraisal of the great issues involving the present and future of the human family.

To carry out their work effectively, diplomats must be constantly committed to a programme of solid and ongoing formation. It is not enough for them merely to acquire theoretical knowledge, but it is necessary to develop an approach to work and a lifestyle that can enable them to understand the deeper dynamics of international relations and to be respected for their approach to the aspirations and difficulties that an increasingly synodal Church must face. Only through careful observation of constantly changing realities and the practice of sound discernment is it possible to judge the significance of events and to propose concrete responses. In this regard, qualities such as closeness, attentive listening, witness, a fraternal approach and dialogue are fundamental. Those qualities must be combined with humility and meekness, so that priests, and papal diplomats in particular, can exercise the gift of the priesthood received in the image of Christ the Good Shepherd (cf.  Mt  11:28-30;  Jn  10:11-18).

All this requires, in our day, a preparation better suited to the needs of the times for those carefully selected priests who, coming from various dioceses throughout the world and already trained in the sacred sciences and having had an initial experience of pastoral activity, are preparing to pursue their priestly mission in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. It is not simply a matter of providing a high level of academic and scientific education, but of ensuring that their activity will be ecclesial, necessarily called to engage with the reality of our world, “especially in a time like our own, marked as it is by rapid, constant and far-reaching changes in the fields of science and technology” (Apostolic Constitution  Veritatis Gaudium , Forward, 5).

For three hundred years, this particular task has been carried out by the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, an institution that, overcoming the vicissitudes of history, has come to be recognized as “the diplomatic school of the Holy See,” training generations of priests who have placed their vocation at the service of the Petrine ministry by serving in the Papal Representations and the Secretariat of State. In order that the Academy may better carry out the purposes for which it was established, and following the example of my Predecessors of venerable memory, I have decided to update its structure and to approve,  in forma specifica , the new Statutes that are an integral part of this act.

Wherefore, I establish the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy as an Institute  ad instar Facultatis  for the study of Diplomatic Sciences, thus expanding the number of analogous Institutions provided for by the Apostolic Constitution  Veritatis Gaudium  (cf.  Special Norms , 70).

Endowed with public juridical personality (cf.  Veritatis Gaudium , Art. 62 § 3), the Academy will be governed by the common or particular norms of canon law applicable to it, and by other dispositions given by the Holy See for its institutions of higher education (cf.  ibid .,  Special Norms , Art. 1 § 1).

By the authority of the Holy See (cf.  Veritatis Gaudium , Arts. 2 and 6;  Special Norms , Art. 1) it will confer the academic degrees of the second and third cycle in Diplomatic Sciences.

The Academy will carry out its work in the most advanced forms currently required for training and research in the particular discipline of Diplomatic Sciences, which include studies in the disciplines of law, history, politics and economics, as well as languages used in international relations and relevant areas of study. In this renewal, care shall be taken to ensure that the programmes of instruction have a close connection with the ecclesiastical disciplines, the praxis of the Roman Curia, the needs of the local Churches and, more broadly, with the work of evangelization, the Church’s activity and its relationship with culture and human society (cf.  ibid ., Art. 85;  Special Norms , Art. 4). These are, in fact, additional constituent elements of the diplomatic activity of the Apostolic See and of its ability to operate, to mediate, to overcome barriers and thus to develop concrete paths of dialogue and negotiation for guaranteeing peace and freedom of religion for all believers, and order among nations.

Furthermore, I decree that, by reason of its nature as an academic institution designated for the specific training of papal diplomats and for the purposes of its education and research programmes, the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy is, to all intents and purposes, an integral part of the Secretariat of State, within which it operates and to which it is specially attached (cf. Apostolic Constitution  Praedicate Evangelium , Art. 52 § 2).

The provisions of this Chirograph are given immediate, full and stable force, notwithstanding any dispositions to the contrary, even those worthy of special mention.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 25 March, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord,

in the year 2025, the thirteenth of my Pontificate.

FRANCIS

Appointment of bishop of Molegbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Appointment of bishop of Tulle, France

Appointment of vicar apostolic of Pilcomayo, Paraguay

 

Appointment of bishop of Molegbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Joseph Mopepe Ngongo, doctoral candidate in theology at the Université Catholique du Congo , as bishop of the diocese of Molegbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Curriculum vitae

Msgr. Joseph Mopepe Ngongo was born on 15 July 1966 in Gemena, diocese of Molegbe. He entered the Saint François d’Assise Preparatory Seminary of Katokoli and studied philosophy at the Saint Jean-Baptiste Major Seminary of Bamanya and theology at the Université Catholique du Congo.

He received priestly ordination on 19 March 1995.

After ordination, he was awarded a licentiate in theology from the Université Catholique du Congo (1995-1997), and held the roles of formator (1997-2002) and rector (2002-2011) of the Saint Pierre et Saint Paul Interdiocesan Major Seminary in Lisala.

In 2011 he began his studies for a doctorate in France where, at the same time, he served as vicar of the Notre Dame Saint Jacques Cathedral in Reims (2011-2021). In addition, he was moderator of the parishes of the Espace missionnaire Sedan-Yvois and chaplain of the Equipes du Rosaire of the metropolitan archdiocese of Reims (2021-2024).

In 2024 he returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to conclude his doctoral studies at the Université Catholique du Congo in Kinshasa.

 

Appointment of bishop of Tulle, France

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Fr. Éric Bidot, O.F.M. Cap., former provincial minister of the Capuchin Province of France, as bishop of Tulle.

Curriculum vitae

Msgr. Éric Bidot was born on 15 May 1971 in Paris. After his secondary studies in Versailles, he graduated in public law and carried out his studies in philosophy and theology at the Centre Sèvres in Paris.

He gave his perpetual vows in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 2005 and was ordained a priest on 29 June 2007.

He has held the following offices: pastoral collaborator in the parish of Saint-Luc in Clermont-Ferrand (2007-2008), superior of the Community in Clermont-Ferrand (2009-2014), provincial minister of the Capuchin Province in France (2014-2023), and president of the Conference of Capuchin Provincial Ministers of Northern Europe (2019-2024).

 

Appointment of vicar apostolic of Pilcomayo, Paraguay

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Fr. Miguel Fritz, O.M.I., until now apostolic administrator of Pilcomayo, Paraguay, as vicar apostolic of the same apostolic vicariate.

Curriculum vitae

The Reverend Fr. Miguel Fritz, O.M.I., was born on 10 May 1955 in Hannover, Germany. He obtained a diploma in theology from the Gutenberg University of Mainz and a licentiate in anthropology from the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana of Quito.

He gave his perpetual vows in 1980 and was ordained a priest on 28 May 1981.

He has held the following offices: deputy parish priest in Gelsenkirchen, Germany (1981-1984), deputy parish priest in Colonia Independencia, diocese of Villarrica del Espíritu Santo (1985-1987),  service in the O.M.I. House of Formation in Lambaré, Asunción (1987-1988), deputy parish priest of Santa María , in the apostolic vicariate of Pilcomayo (1988-1994), vicar general of Pilcomayo and parish priest of Santa María (1995-2006), superior of the O.M.I. in the province of Paraguay (2007-2010), member of the O.M.I. General Council at the General House in Rome (2010-2016), and vicar general of Pilcomayo and parish priest of San Leonardo (2016-2022).

Since 2022, he has served as apostolic administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the apostolic vicariate of Pilcomayo.

On 14 April 2025, during the audience granted to His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Supreme Pontiff authorized the same Dicastery to promulgate the Decrees regarding:

- the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Eliswa of the Blessed Virgin Mary (née Eliswa Vakayil), founder of the Congregation of the Third Order of the Descalced Carmelites, now the Teresian Carmelite Nuns; born on 15 October 1831 in Ochanthuruth, India, and died in Varapuzha, India, on 18 July 1913;

- the martyrdom of the Servant of God Nazareno Lanciotti, diocesan priest; born on 3 March 1940 in Rome, Italy, and died in hatred of the faith on 22 February 2001 in São Paulo, Brazil;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Petrus Jozef Triest, diocesan priest; founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of Charity, the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary and the Sisters of the Childhood of Jesus; born on 31 August 1760 in Brussels, Belgium, and died in Ghent, Belgium, on 24 June 1836;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Angelo Bughetti, diocesan priest; founder of the Institute of Saint Catherine; born on 27 August 1877 in Imola, Italy, and died in Bologna, Italy on 5 April 1935;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Agostino Cozzolino, diocesan priest; born on 16 October 1928 in Resina (now Ercolano, Italy) and died in Naples, Italy on 2 November 1988;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Antonio Gaudí i Cornet, lay faithful; born on 25 June 1852, probably in Reus, Spain, and died on 10 June 1926 in Barcelona, Spain.

This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience:

- His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.