Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy

The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

The diplomatic service of the Holy See can be traced back to 325 AD when Pope Sylvester I sent legates to represent him at the First Council of Nicaea.

Located inside Palazzo Severoli on the Piazza della Minerva in central Rome, the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy trains Catholic priests sent by their bishop from different parts of the world to study ecclesiastical and international diplomacy, particularly in order that the alumni may later be selected to serve in the Diplomatic posts of the Holy See—ultimately as a papal nuncio, or ambassador.

[3] Revised requirements for those who enter the Academy beginning in 2020/2021 include a year of pastoral work in a missionary context.

[5] Georg Gänswein became only the sixth active apostolic nuncio who did not attend the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the training institute for most members of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See.