
A RANKING official of Vatican is set to visit UST on Jan. 28, the feast of its patron St. Thomas Aquinas, University administrators said.
Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, one of the secretaries of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, will celebrate the solemnity mass in honor of the Dominican saint at the Santisimo Rosario Parish church at 10 a.m., according to UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, O.P.
Institute of Religion faculty secretary Asst. Prof. Warren Maneja said Pagazzi would also meet with UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. and would drop by the UST Central Seminary ahead of the mass. Several students from the Ecclesiastical Faculties are expected to greet the Vatican official during his visit to the seminary.
Pagazzi, an Italian theologian, was named titular archbishop of Belcastro in Southern Italy on Nov. 30, 2023 and was ordained a bishop on Feb. 10, 2024.
Before his ordination on June 23, 1990, the prelate obtained his bachelor’s degree in theology at the United Theological Studies of the Seminaries of Crema and Lodi, Northern Italy. He earned his licentiate and doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1994 and 1996, respectively.
In September 1996, he became a professor of Christology and Ecclesiology at the United Theological Studies of the seminaries of Lodi and Crema in northern Italy.
Pagazzi has been a theology professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences since October 2019.
The Vatican official was appointed consultant for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in October 2021.
The Dicastery for Culture and Education is part of the Roman Curia, which is composed of the administrative institutions of the Holy See, the Catholic Church’s central government. Led by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, the dicastery has two sections: culture, which is under Irish prelate Paul Desmond Tighe; and education, which has been under Pagazzi since 2022.
According to the Holy See, the dicastery’s section for education seeks to “promote the Catholic identity of schools and institutes of higher education” and to ensure “that the integrity of the Catholic faith is safeguarded in doctrinal teaching.”
Among its tasks are supervising pontifical academies globally and accrediting degrees offered by ecclesiastical faculties. It is also responsible for issuing the “nihil obstat” or no objection, which is “necessary for teachers to be eligible to teach theological disciplines.”
Aside from the mass on St. Thomas Aquinas’ feast day, UST will have a triduum in honor of its patron from Jan. 22 to 24 also at the Santisimo Rosario Parish church. An institutional mass will be held on Jan. 27, marking the end of the double jubilee celebration in honor of the saint. The event will carry the theme, “Saint Thomas Aquinas: Illumined by Truth, Anchored in Hope.”
Classes and office work will be suspended at UST on Jan. 28. F