Pazmany Peter Catholic University

The Pázmány Péter Catholic University, which is one of the legal successors of the University that was established by Cardinal Péter Pázmány, archbishop of Esztergom, Primate of Hungary, in Nagyszombat on 12th May 1635, during the last more two decades has got an eminent place in the Hungarian higher education system and has become recognized partner of many universities and research centers on the national and international level, moreover, it has become member of several highly qualified research university networks. This conscious organizing activity of our University was recognized by the state in 2013 when we received the title of National Excellence.

What is that peculiar value which can be added to the generally known and existing secular university activity by a catholic university, in the World, particularly in Europe, especially in Central Europe? This is definitely the loyalty toward our common Christian heritage, morality, the belief in the eternal truth which can be recognizes by the human being. This is the one which motivates us to instruct and form the new generation, to proceed in the highly qualified scientific research, never forgetting the roots of our faith and the real goal of every scientific inquiry. Protection and transmission of this value is never outworn - even the opposite concept is argued many times - but current and fresh.

Instruction is a natural part of the essential work of every university; however the sources of the new facts which can enrich the teaching should be the results of fundamental research. The formation is not merely forming the mind by facts and theories. Therefore, the moral and spiritual formation is an extraordinary responsibility of our university’s participation in the challenge of the Church. If we understand this principle, our teaching can be much more authentic and our students can feel more about their personal responsibility. Their preparation is in our hands, like in the 17th century when Cardinal Péter Pázmány gave chance to the youth through the foundation of a university among very difficult circumstances of the contemporary society.

the University functions and fulfils its ecclesiastical mission according to the Apostolic Constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae: “Since the objective of a Catholic University is to assure in an institutional manner a Christian presence in the university world confronting the great problems of society and culture. (…) A Catholic University, therefore, is a place of research, where scholars scrutinize reality with the methods proper to each academic discipline, and so contribute to the treasury of human knowledge. Each individual discipline is studied in a systematic manner; moreover, the various disciplines are brought into dialogue for their mutual enhancement.

Beside this the unique aims of PPCU are the following: the University is a scientific community that, through its strict and critical approach, promotes the protection and development of human dignity and cultural heritage by research, education and other activities provided to the given national and international community especially in the field of theology and human sciences but as much as possible in the area of natural sciences as well. At the same time the University has the mission to ensure the presence of the Catholic Faith in the Hungarian culture and to become one of the determining factors of the Catholic cultural life.

It is a unique socio-political task of PPCU to present the Catholic view concerning the life of individuals and the whole society. The essence of this approach is the unconditioned acceptance of the objective value of human beings from their conception to their natural death. This view of society provides the opportunity to initiate new educational programs in the broadest spectrum possible, which are capable to focus on the individual characteristics of the participants and at the same time can be appropriately personalized. This way the main aim of the Catholic education of experts is to mobilize individual capabilities for the service of the society and of every single person. Naturally, this goal is closely linked to the phenomenon that appears within the Catholic education of experts: the education of the ‘entire person’, which means that, beyond the intellectual and physical formation, the students’ spiritual and moral development must also be of primary importance.

Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPCU) is a state approved higher educational institution that is run by the Catholic Church and governed by the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. The Congregation of the Catholic Education of the Apostolic Holy See in its decree n° 1151 (on 25th, November 1999) declared that Pázmány University had been established and approved directly by the Holy See. The University has a legal entity both in the legal system of the Catholic Church and that of the State of Hungary. In the Catholic Church the institution is regarded as an official ecclesiastical legal entity. PPCU forms a unique segment of the Hungarian higher education as a non-regional institution with national coverage and as the only single university of the Hungarian Catholic higher education, which is the member of an international research university network.

Our University was founded in 1635 and has been continuously operating ever since. During the Ottoman occupation, the most tragic years of our country's history, Archbishop of Esztergom Péter Pázmány established the university, which proved to be of epochal significance in the history of education and religious culture in Hungary. He was convinced that the university was the only way to guarantee the survival of the nation's moral and intellectual culture.

The university he founded adopted both his intellectual heritage and his name. The university was moved to Buda from Nagyszombat (now Trnava) by Maria Theresa.

In the spirit of the 1848 reforms the university became a modern and autonomous educational centre. After a short period when its self-governance was limited by Habsburg absolutism, it regained its previous rights in 1860, and by the beginning of the 20th century it became one of the world's finest universities. In 1921, after the grisly calamities of World War I and the restrictions imposed on it by the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the "Royal Hungarian University of Science" in Budapest was once again named after its founder, Péter Pázmány, and it bore his name until 1950, when the communist state restructured the university by separating the Faculties of Medicine and Theology, and changed the name of the remaining institution to "Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences". In 1993 the Hungarian Parliament registered Pázmány Péter Catholic University (and along with it the Faculty of Humanities) as a university accredited by the state. We currently have five faculties: the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, the Faculty of Information Technology and the Postgraduate Institute of Canon Law, which also has faculty status.