A Pontifical university is a Roman Catholic university established by and directly under the authority of the Holy See. It is licensed to grant academic degrees in sacred faculties, the most important of which are Sacred Theology, Canon Law, andPhilosophy. Pontifical universities follow a European system of degrees in the sacred faculties, granting the baccalaureate, license, and doctorate.

These ecclesiastical degrees are prerequisites to certain offices in the Roman Catholic Church, especially considering that bishop candidates are selected mainly from priests who are doctors of sacred theology or canon law and that ecclesiastical judges and attorneys must at least be licentiates of canon law.

List of Pontifical universities

• Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, Poland
• Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Warsaw, Poland
• Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Wroclaw, Poland
• University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
• Pontifical University of Maynooth, Ireland
• Pontifical University of Saint Bonaventure, Italy
• Pontifical University
  
  
  
  of Salamanca, Spain
• Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Italy
• Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Italy
• Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum, Italy
• Pontifical Gregorian University, Italy
• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile
• Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, República Dominicana
• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
• Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador, Ecuador
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Peru
• Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, Brazil
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid, Spain
• Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada
• Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
• Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
• Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia

See also

• List of colleges and universities by country אוניברסיטה אפיפיורית