Pope Leo XIII was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. He was the oldest pope, with the exception of Pope Benedict XVI as emeritus pope, and had the third-longest confirmed pontificate, behind those of Pius IX and John Paul II.
Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical universities.
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas for modern times, and was influential in the development and drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Pope Paul VI presented his "Message to Men of Thought and of Science" at the close of Vatican II to Maritain, his long-time friend and mentor. The same pope had seriously considered making him a lay cardinal, but Maritain rejected it. Maritain's interest and works spanned many aspects of philosophy, including aesthetics, political theory, philosophy of science, metaphysics, the nature of education, liturgy and ecclesiology.
Catholic social teaching is the Catholic doctrines on matters of human dignity and common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, concern for social justice, and issues of wealth distribution. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical letter Rerum novarum, which advocated economic distributism. Its roots can be traced to the writings of Catholic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo, and is also derived from concepts present in the Bible and the cultures of the ancient Near East.
Tommaso Maria Zigliara, OP was a Roman Catholic priest of the Dominican Order, a theologian, philosopher and a cardinal.
Pacem in terris was a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963 on the rights and obligations of individuals and of the state, as well as the proper relations between states. It emphasized human dignity and equality among all people, and made mention of issues such as the rights of women, nuclear non-proliferation, and the United Nations, all of which it endorsed. It was the last encyclical drafted by John XXIII, who had been diagnosed with cancer in September 1962 and died two months after the encyclical's completion. Biographer Peter Hebblethwaite called it Pope John's "last will and testament". Published on Holy Thursday, the Pope called it his "Easter gift".
The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PUST), also known as the Angelicum in honor of its patron the Doctor Angelicus Thomas Aquinas, is a pontifical university located in the historic center of Rome, Italy. The Angelicum is administered by the Dominican Order and is the order's central locus of Thomist theology and philosophy.
Aeterni Patris was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in August 1879,. It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas". The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy.
Doctor of Canon Law is the doctoral-level terminal degree in the studies of canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. It can also be an honorary degree awarded by Anglican colleges. It may also be abbreviated ICD or dr.iur.can., ICDr, DCL, DCnl, DDC, or DCanL. A doctor of both laws is a JUD or UJD.
Janet Elizabeth Smith is an American classicist and philosopher, and former professor of moral theology at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan.
The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was established on 1 January 1994 by Pope John Paul II and is headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in Vatican City. It operates much like other learned societies worldwide, but has the special task of entering into dialogue with the Church. Its scientific activities are organised and focused to promote this dialogue.
Giuseppe Pecci was a Jesuit Thomist theologian whose younger brother, Vincenzo, became Pope Leo XIII and appointed him a cardinal. The Neo-Thomist revival, which Leo XIII and his brother Giuseppe, Cardinal Pecci originated in 1879, remained the leading papal philosophy until Vatican II.
Paul-Pierre Philippe O.P. was a Cardinal and Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas was established on 15 October 1879 by Pope Leo XIII who appointed two presidents, his brother and noted Thomist Giuseppe Pecci (1879–1890) and Tommaso Maria Zigliara, professor of theology at the College of Saint Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.
Annum sacrum is an encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on the consecration of the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on the 25th day of May, 1899, the twenty-second year of his pontificate.
Benedict M. Ashley, O.P., was an American theologian and philosopher who had a major influence on 20th century Catholic theology and ethics in America through his writing, teaching, and consulting with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Author of 19 books, Ashley was a major exponent of the River Forest Thomism. Health Care Ethics, which he co-authored in 1975 and now in its fifth edition, continues to be a fundamental text in the field of Catholic Medical Ethics. Ashley taught at numerous institutions and was an active teacher, consultant, and author. He was a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Physics, a physics research and educational organization reintegrating the foundational principles given directly through our senses into the heart of modern science, from 2003 till his death. He called the Institute for Advanced Physics "the first and only institution addressing this problem [the disintegration of secular and religious culture] at its core by integrating the proper philosophical depth into the heart of modern science."
The theology of Pope Leo XIII was influenced by the ecclesial teachings of the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), which had ended only eight years earlier. Leo issued some 46 apostolic letters and encyclicals dealing with central issues in the areas of marriage and family and state and society.
Robert Emmet Barron is an American prelate of the Catholic Church serving as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is the founder of the Catholic ministerial organization Word on Fire, and was the host of the TV series Catholicism, an award-winning documentary about the Catholic faith which aired on PBS. Previously, he served as rector at Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The Thomistic Institute is an academic institute of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, a Catholic pontifical faculty run by the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2009, its name derives from the order's heritage of Thomas Aquinas, as the institute is influenced by the Thomistic tradition. The institute was originally founded as an academic research institute of the Pontifical Faculty, but evolved into a network of campus chapters at universities throughout the United States, England, and Ireland that sponsors lectures on theology, philosophy, ethics, and politics. As of 2018, the institute had chapters at around 30 universities. Counted among its past speakers are Scottish philosophers Alasdair MacIntyre and John Haldane, French philosopher Remi Brague, American philosopher Robert Sokolowski, English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, Australian philosopher Mark Johnston, the Theologian of the Pontifical Household Wojciech Giertych, and United States Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. In addition to individual lectures, the Institute has co-sponsored academic conferences with Harvard Law School, Yale University, New York University, Georgetown University, and Notre Dame University, among others. It also organizes an annual conference on Thomistic philosophy at Mt. St. Mary's College in Newburgh, New York and an annual Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science conference for faculty and graduate students in the experimental sciences and in philosophy, held in Washington, D.C.
