Pope Francis has appointed John Garvey, President of The Catholic University of America, to the Board of Directors of the Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties (AVEPRO). Ecclesiastical universities conduct teaching and research related to Christian revelation, and their academic qualities are granted under the authority of the Holy See. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI established the institution on September 19, 2007, to “promote and develop a culture of quality within the academic institutions that depend directly on the Holy See and ensure they possess internationally valid quality criteria.”

“I am pleased to serve on the Board of Directors of AVEPRO,” Garvey said. “The Catholic University of America is the only pontifical university in the United States of America, so we have a unique interest in the affairs of the institute. But I am also happy to serve the Church by playing a role in its cultivation of ecclesiastical universities around the world.”

Universities which confer ecclesiastical degrees are guided by the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana, while other Catholic colleges and universities are governed by Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Because The Catholic University of America confers ecclesiastical faculties in canon law, philosophy, and theology, as well as faculties in its other nine schools, it is governed by both constitutions.