Fernando Ocáriz, Prelate of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of Opus Dei. Pontifical University of the Holy Crossfounded by Blessed Alvaro del Portillo in 1984, has appointed a new rector for the next four years, 2024-2028, with the confirmation of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
The inauguration of the new rector, Fernando Puig, professor of Organization Law and Church Government, will take place at the beginning of the next academic year, on October 1, 2024, a day that will also mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the university and the retirement of the current rector, Professor Luis Navarro, who has been in office since 2016.
The academic community wanted to express its gratitude to Luis Navarro for the years he dedicated to the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, noting that "during his two terms as rector [...] a process of reform of the internal organization was initiated, professionalizing various work procedures; economic and financial measures were put in place to ensure sustainability. In recent years a new impetus has also been given to research, through the creation of interdisciplinary and inter-university projects involving scholars and researchers from various universities around the world".
The university has also recalled that "an occasion of special relevance" during his tenure "was the Audience granted by the Pope himself to the students of the Pontifical Universities of Rome, which took place on February 25, 2023, during which Professor Navarro had the opportunity to address the Pope on behalf of those present."
Professor Fernando Puig, a native of Terrassa (Spain) and a priest of Opus Dei since 2004, holds a doctorate in Law from the University of Barcelona and the University of Girona, and a doctorate in Canon Law and Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
