From the President

We look forward to Pope Benedict XVI’s April visit to The Catholic University of America with tremendous anticipation and enthusiasm. It will be an honor beyond measure for our pontifical university, the national university of the Catholic Church in our country, to welcome the person who is at once the shepherd of the Catholic Church and our university during his pastoral visit to the United States.

It has been more than a quarter century since a pope visited Catholic University. Pope John Paul II came to CUA on Oct. 7, 1979. The purpose of his visit was to deliver an address on Catholic higher education.  Pope Benedict XVI will address the broader themes of Catholic education to an invitation-only audience.

Coincidentally, The Catholic University of America will be hosting a major conference on the natural law that was requested by the Pope when he was the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. From March 27 to 30, 2008, 22 speakers who constitute a “who’s who” of leading philosophers, political scientists and theologians from around the world will ponder topics centered around the theme of “A Common Morality for the Global Age: In Gratitude for What We Are Given.”

Sincerely yours,

Very Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
President