The Peruvian historian and politician José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma would become his main benefactor by leaving him most of his assets as an inheritance, as it was then a more religious educational institution and linked to the Catholic Church; in contrast to his alma mater and original destination of his inheritance, the National University of San Marcos, where Riva-Agüero considered that liberal ideas and atheism predominated here.

In July 2012, after an apostolic visitation, begun earlier, in 2011, by Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, the Holy See withdrew from the university the right under canon law to use the titles Catholic and Pontifical in its name.

In 2006, due to economic problems that prevented the correct conservation of the tapes, the Lima Film Archive was bought by the PUCP.

And in 2006, the official delivery of the musical manuscripts of Daniel Alomía Robles, donated to the Catholic University by his family, was made.

It is alleged that the university had refused to allow the Peruvian bishops an official seat on the board of governance and access to the administration of bequests and other sources of funding.

In October 2011, Cardinal Péter Erdő, 59, Metropolitan Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, President of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference was named apostolic visitor to the college.

Certain seminaries require, for instance, that those teaching classes of theology and canon law hold pontifical degrees in those subjects only obtainable with the permission and recognition by the Holy See.

[8] In a papal decree dated 11 July 2012, the Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone withdrew the titles of "Pontificia" and "Catolica" from the university, citing disagreements with the current governing body.

[9][10] The title "Pontificia" was previously granted to the university on 30 September 1942, by the Holy See which was decreed and signed by Pope Pius XII.

[11] The canonical decree was approved by Pope Benedict XVI, upon whom the university had conferred the academic title of Doctor Honoris causa in 1986, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

On 22 July 2012, the rector of the university, Marcial Rubio, released a press statement refusing to relinquish the titles Catholic and Pontifical as previously granted by Pope Pius XII, citing that the situation is "regrettable" but the title remains their "official name and will continue to use as such so long as its convenient" to their governing body.

[13] On 26 July 2012, in a CNN televised interview, Marcial Rubio noted that the university may change the official name of the school in the future but only according to a timeline and decision of the present governing board, not in response to any pressure from the Pope or the Holy See.

Its main campus is located in the Lima district of San Miguel, with the newly built Mac Gregor complex.

CENTRUM, a center for business studies featuring doctoral level and MBA programs and located in the district of Santiago de Surco, is also part of PUCP.