JPII Institute VP Warns: ‘More Here at Stake Than Just an Institution’s Survival’, by Solène Tadié

Father José Granados discusses the controversy over changes with the Pontifical John Paul II Institute’s new statutes.

By Solène Tadié, National Catholic Register, 8/7/19

On July 24, 241 students and alumni at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome signed a letter expressing their frustration over newly approved statutes, saying the new direction will undermine the institute’s identity and curriculum. The letter was previously sent to Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the institute’s grand chancellor, and Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, its president.

The institute, whose statutes were approved June 19 and published July 18, is accused of carrying out a purge of renowned and long-serving professors, thereby putting in jeopardy the heritage of the institute’s namesake.

The promulgation of the new statutes follows the 2017 apostolic letter Summa Familiae Cura, in which Pope Francis established the dissolution of the John Paul II Institute and the erection of a new institute that would focus on theology to include the “science of the family.” In this interview with the Register, Father José Granados, a priest of the Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and a tenured professor of dogmatic theology and vice president of Rome’s John Paul II Institute since 2011, expresses his concern over the institute’s future and discusses the stakes of the preservation of John Paul II’s teachings in today’s society. One of the priests dismissed, Father José Noriega, is the superior general of Father Granados’ order.

The new statutes of the institute are said to weaken John Paul II’s heritage, especially his teachings developed in Veritatis Splendor (1993), which is considered a defense against the pervading relativism in our culture. Do you agree with that? …..

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