An Australian foundation is helping priests and seminarians from around the world to study in Rome to strengthen the Church’s evangelising mission. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross Foundation trustee Frank Casadesus said improved international travel had opened another avenue for preparing priests to evangelise in their home countries.
“This way is to bring to Rome seminarians and young priests from any diocese or religious order and educate them at a pontifical university,” Mr Casadesus said.
“After two or three years in a university at the centre of Christianity, close to the Holy Father, mixing with students and professors from all over the world, they are well prepared to return to evangelise their own country.”
The Australian foundation assists the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross by funding scholarships for students whose bishops or religious superiors seek financial assistance.
Founded in 1984 by Bishop Blessed Álvaro del Portillo, the university was raised to the status of a Pontifical University by Pope St John Paul II in 1998. It had 1200 students from 80 countries during the 2025–26 academic year, with close to 300 students requiring scholarships each year.
Mr Casadesus said the international character of the university was an important part of the formation students received in Rome. Living and studying alongside seminarians, priests and lay students from different countries exposes them to the experiences and pastoral needs of the Church in many parts of the world.
That formation can then be taken back to their dioceses and religious communities when they return home. Mr Casadesus said graduates often went on to leadership positions in their local churches and the wider Church.
More than 75 former students of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross have been ordained bishops, including one in Australia, and three have been made cardinals. Others have become seminary professors or serve in diocesan curias.
For the academic year from October 2026 to June 2027, the Australian foundation is funding scholarships for seven priests from dioceses in the Philippines, Nigeria, India, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Mozambique and Angola.
Mr Casadesus said supporting the scholarships was ultimately a way for Australian Catholics to contribute to the Church’s missionary work.
“Any contribution to this foundation is a contribution to the evangelisation of the world,” he said.
Details at www.pontifoundation.org.au.
FULL STORY
Rome scholarships offer new path for evangelisation (The Catholic Weekly)
