Pontifical universities in Rome

It is licensed to grant academic degrees in sacred faculties, the most important of which are theology, canon law, and philosophy.

Pontifical universities follow a European system of degrees in the sacred faculties, granting the baccalaureate, the licentiate, and the doctorate.

Ecclesiastical universities and faculties can be established only through erection by the Apostolic See or with its approval; their higher direction also pertains to it.

817 No university or faculty which has not been erected or approved by the Apostolic See is able to confer academic degrees which have canonical effects in the Church.

[1] Independent institutions or individual faculties at non-pontifical universities may also be given charters by the Holy See (under canon 814) to grant pontifical degrees, usually in one or two specific fields.

However, no measures were taken designed to establish a priori the equivalence with the titles conferred by Italian universities.

[5] Generally, Pontifical universities are composed of the three traditional ecclesiastical faculties of Theology, Philosophy, and Canon Law.