Catholic University of Portugal
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| Catholic University of Portugal link () Website | |
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| Formation | 1967 |
| Headquarters | Lisbon,Portugal |
| Type | Catholic |
| Portuguese catholic university with reputation of being an "elite university". | |
The Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) is a non-governmental, public university with campuses in Lisbon (headquarters), Porto, Braga and Beiras. It has the status of a Concordat University (non-governmental university with agreement status between Portugal and the Vatican). The 6th rector of the university, Isabel Gil, attended her first Bilderberg in 2024.
History
The first thoughts about establishing a Catholic university in Portugal arose as early as the faculty of philosophy at the Saint Paul School in Panty (Braga), this was the center of spiritual education in Portugal. This school had been founded by the Jesuits, who had resumed teaching after a lengthy absence in 1875. In 1910 they had to leave Panty again and then returned to the school in 1934. In the years that followed, they founded the Institute for the Study of Philosophy, which was recognized in 1942 by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Training as a "University of Philosophy" and was elevated to a Pontifical University in 1947.
With the papal decree Lusitanorum nobilissima gens of October 13, 1967, the institute was converted into the “Faculty of Philosophy at the Portuguese Catholic University”, which was relocated to Lisbon in the same year and handed over to the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference. The faculty for theology was established on it in 1968 and for human sciences in 1971.
It received state recognition as a university in connection with a concordat, it was now an equal university for the state and the Roman Catholic Church. In the years that followed, the university developed into a public and church institution with many courses and subject areas. The entire education of academic and scientific students is based on the principles and values of Christian teaching, today the university enjoys a high degree of autonomy and has the reputation of being an "elite university".