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The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PAST; la, Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinati) is a pontifical academy established on 15 October 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. The academy is one of the pontifical academies housed along with the academies of science at Casina Pio IV in

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, Rome.

History

The Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas was established on 15 October 1879 by Leo XIII, who approved its statutes with a brief of 9 May 1895. Leo appointed his brother, Giuseppe Pecci (1879–1890) a prominent

Thomistic Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physica ...

scholar, as first Prefect. The academy was founded with thirty members: ten from Rome, ten from the rest of Italy, and ten from other countries. Through Pecci, PAST helped establish

Thomist Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions a ...

programs at

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

(Switzerland),

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and Lowden. Upon the death of Pecci in 1890, Tommaso Maria Zigliara, professor of theology at the ''Collegium Divi Thomae'' (the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, ''Angelicum'') became Prefect. The academy was confirmed by Pope Pius X with his

apostolic letter Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters. Letters of the pop ...

of 23 January 1904. Under Pius X,

neo-Thomism Neo-scholasticism (also known as neo-scholastic Thomism Accessed 27 March 2013 or neo-Thomism because of the great influence of the writings of Thomas Aquinas on the movement) is a revival and development of medieval scholasticism in Catholic the ...

became the blueprint for theology. Until 1965 the presidency of the PAST was held by a group of cardinals. Pope Paul VI appointed the first single cardinal as president, Cardinal Michael Browne. After his death in 1971, the presidency remained vacant until the appointment of Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi in 1979. After his death in 1996, Pope John Paul II reformed the academy on 28 January 1999 with his apostolic letter ''Inter munera Academiarium'', issued shortly after his encyclical '' Fides et ratio''. The office of president would no longer be bestowed on a cardinal and its appointment would be for a five-year period. Abelardo Lobato, professor of philosophy at the College of Saint Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, ''Angelicum'', served as president from 1999 to 2005.

Present day

With Pope Francis' reorganization of the Roman Curia as of 5 June 2022 as provided for in the apostolic constitution '' Praedicate evangelium'', the new

Dicastery for Culture and Education The Dicastery for Culture and Education is an administrative unit of the Roman Curia. It began operations on 5 June 2022 as established by the apostolic constitution ''Praedicate evangelium'' promulgated on 19 March 2022. It was formed through t ...

became responsible for coordinating the work of the academy with its own work and that of a number of other bodies. The academy was founded in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII to study and promote the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas in service to the Church and the world."Notre Dame philosopher appointed to Vatican academy on St. Thomas Aquinas", ''Notre Dame News'', August 27, 2019
/ref> The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas is temporarily headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in the

. Its objectives, as stated in the academy's ''Yearbook 2007'', are the following: * Carry out research, explain, and disseminate the teaching of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

* Propose Aquinas as a model Christian teacher, seeker of

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belie ...

, lover of

good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

, and scholar of all learning * Be at the service of all the teaching of Aquinas in accord with the Christian tradition and the

magisterium The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...

of the church, especially as set out in the encyclicals '' Aeterni Patris'' and ''Fides et ratio'' * Explain, in as much as this is possible, the mystery of faith and the analogical connections between articles of

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

according to the thinking of Aquinas, thereby also honouring his title, ''Doctor Communis'' * Encourage interaction between faith and reason, and foster increasing dialogue between philosophy and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

* Amicable cooperation with members of other academies to promote Christian philosophy and theology * Stimulate international interaction between scholars of Aquinas and his work * Further the role of Thomistic thought in society * Promote education in Thomistic studies and the public's understanding of the ideas of Aquinas * Encourage research into the work and thought of Aquinas The Academy meets annually in Rome. The scholars decided to adopt annual themes for their meetings to align with the interests and priorities expressed by the pope. In 2019 the theme was "salvation", drawn from the letter "Placuit Deo" on aspects of Christian salvation. The current president of the PAST is Serge Thomas Bonino. The current secretary is Bishop

Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo (born 8 September 1942) is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who was Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences from 1998 to 2022. He was made a bishop in 2 ...

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* ''Year Book'', first edition, Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinatis, Vatican City, 2001. * ''Yearbook'', second edition, Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinatis, Vatican City, 2007. * D. Berger, ''In dulcedine societatis quaerere veritatem. Zur Geschichte der Päpstlichen Akademie des hl. Thomas von Aquin''. Doctor Angelicus II (2002), 135–180. * A. Piolanti, ''La Pontificia Academia Romana di S. Tommaso''. Studi Tomistici 17 (1981) 223–235.

External links