FAQ

The ICR (International Recognition Center) is responsible for academic recognition and providing information on educational qualifications exclusively related to the Holy See's higher education system.

If you have a question regarding an ecclesiastical degree, it is preferable to send an email with the scanned/pdf documentation to icr@dce.va.

For matters concerning certification/authentication, the responsible office is the Validation Office, located in the Dicastery for Culture and Education at Piazza Pio XII, No. 3 (3rd floor). The office hours are Monday to Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. You can also schedule an appointment by emailing vidimazioni@dce.va

A vidimation consists of recognizing the authenticity of the signature(s) of the representative(s) of the academic institution that issues degrees or certificates, for the purposes required by law, especially in the context of recognition in another country.

A vidimation is the process of recognizing the authenticity of the signature(s) of the representative(s) of the academic institution that issues degrees or certificates. It is required by various countries as a condition for "nostrification," "homologation," or other terms referring to consular legalization procedures.

A vidimation can only be issued for diplomas that present canonical degrees (Baccalaureate, Licentiate, Doctorate) approved by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and obtained from approved Faculties or Institutes with the right to grant degrees on behalf of the Holy See in accordance with its regulations. The authoritative list of accredited academic institutions and their canonical degrees can be found in the Dicastery's Database.

The Holy See is not a member of the Hague Convention. Thus, neither the Dicastery nor the Nunciatures can issue an Apostille stamp. However, instead of obtaining an Apostille, there is the procedure of vidimation, which is essentially consular legalization.

Vidimation, or rather consular legalisation, involves three steps at three different offices in the following order: the Vidimation Office of the Dicastery (Education Section in Piazza Pio XII), the Vidimation Office of the Secretariat of State, and finally, the Embassy of your country to the Holy See or, in some cases, the Nunciature in your own country.

1) The Vidimation Office is located at Piazza Pio XII, 3; 00193 Rome. Office hours are Monday to Friday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. For more information, you can call +39 06 69883634 or email vidimazioni@dce.va.

2) The entrance to the Vidimation Office of the Secretariat of State is currently located at the right-hand colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. The office is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. For more information, call +39 06 69884839.

3) Your country’s Embassy to the Holy See.

4) What documents are required?

• Original diploma;
• Original certificates (Baccalaureate and Licence, including declarations of academic years and credits);
• Original Diploma Supplement.

5) In Italy:

• For concordatary recognition in Italy by the competent Ministry, only Baccalaureate and Licentiate degrees (not doctorates) obtained in ecclesiastical disciplines such as Theology, Sacred Scripture, Canon Law, Liturgy, Spirituality, Missiology, and Religious Sciences are accepted.
  You must contact the Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR) / DGSINFS (Via Carcani 61 – Rome). For further information, call +39 06 97727799 / +39 06 58497799.
• Ecclesiastical degrees in these and other disciplines may also be recognised, in addition to concordatary recognition, based on the agreement between the Holy See and the Italian Republic of 13 February 2019 (link: https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/2021/aas-numerus-specialis_15sept2021.pdf, pages 37-44). The competent body for Italy is CIMEA or the host university.

6) Abroad:

Before leaving Italy, for studies completed at Roman Pontifical universities, contact your country’s Embassy to the Holy See or the Nunciature in the country where you are located.

According to the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (VG), “Faculties that have not been canonically established or approved by the Holy See cannot confer academic degrees with canonical value” (Art. 9 § 1). However, according to Art. 9 § 2, “the academic degrees conferred by these Faculties, to achieve certain specific canonical effects, require recognition by the Congregation for Catholic Education.”

For a non-ecclesiastical and only civil degree, in principle and for the purposes provided by canon law (for example, teaching in ecclesiastical institutions), there is the possibility to request that canonical effects be assigned to an ecclesiastical title by the Holy See, provided that there are no substantial differences between that title and the learning outcomes of an ecclesiastical title.

A request may be made to the Dicastery for Culture and Education, providing the following documentation.

1. The written and duly signed request of the person asking for the assignment of canonical effects (who would generally be the holder of the civil title, or the head of the institution where he or she intends to use the qualification), containing the declaration of the holder that the documentation provided can be made accessible for evaluation purposes.
2. A prior copy scanned at icr@dce.va will be acceptable for our offices to initiate the procedures, but before their conclusion, the original paper copy must be delivered to the Center, at Piazza Pio XII, 3; 00193 Rome.
3. The thesis (in electronic format or in two paper copies), which will be sent to two consultants for evaluation.
4. Electronic documentation of the educational path of the holder of the title (all titles leading to the doctorate, i.e. license/maitrise, or bachelor/master, with the related diplomas and transcripts of records).

The procedure lasts approximately three months from receipt of the complete documentation and concludes with an evaluation by the Dicastery for Culture and Education; the contribution to be paid at the conclusion is approximately 75 euros (it may vary according to current taxation).

For order’s sake, we note that in the practice of international recognition, it is not necessary to pronounce on whether or not recognition is in the jurisdiction of another State, much less on any integrations connected with professional qualification, which is the exclusive jurisdiction of each host State. Considering the fact that access to religious education is regulated by an agreement between the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and the Italian Ministry of Education (MI), we suggest contacting the competent CEI office.

We also remind you that the competent authority for recognition with effect for Italy is:

• for Baccalaureate and Licentiate, CIMEA - Information Center on Academic Mobility and Equivalence (www.cimea.it);
• for Doctorates, first the host university for further studies, and, secondly, the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research (MUR);
• for further studies, the host university.

The Qualifications Framework of the Holy See follows the scheme of the “overarching qualifications framework of the European Higher Education Area” (QF-EHEA), developed in the context of the Bologna Process.

The Qualifications Framework of the Holy See, therefore, is structured in three cycles: Baccalaureate (first cycle), Licentiate (second cycle) and Doctorate (third cycle).

The system of the Holy See does not refer to the EQF (European Qualifications Framework), which means that no reference of EQF levels is used by the institutions of the Holy See (more information available here).

The Qualifications Framework of the Holy See can be consulted at the following link: Qualifications Framework (https://www.dce.va/en/education/qualifications-framework.html)

Accredited academic programs and degrees can be found in the public database of ecclesiastical institutions of higher education available on our website. The database is an authoritative list of all institutions of higher education that have been recognized, approved, or accredited by the Dicastery for Culture and Education as part of the Holy See educational system. The Holy See's database can be found at the following link.

Affiliation is the academic relation by which the Institute is authorized to teach a specific first-cycle program (Baccalaureate) under the authority of a Faculty to which the institution is affiliated by Decree of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

However, in order for the degree to be valid, according to the legislation on affiliations (available at: https://www.dce.va/en/Official-Documents/DCE-Documents-Education.html), it is always the affiliating Faculty that issues the documentation (diploma and diploma supplement), not the affiliated/aggregated/incorporated or connected Institute.

Incorporation is the academic relation by which the Institute is authorized to teach a specific second-cycle program (Licentiate) and/or third-cycle program (Doctorate) under the authority of a Faculty to which the institution is incorporated by Decree of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

However, in order for the degree to be valid, according to the legislation on incorporation (available at: https://www.dce.va/en/Official-Documents/DCE-Documents-Education.html), it is always the affiliating Faculty that issues the documentation (diploma and diploma supplement), not the affiliated/aggregated/incorporated or connected Institute.

An Institute of Religious Sciences (ISSR) is always academically connected to a Faculty of Theology. Based on this connection, the ISSR is authorized to teach a specific first-cycle program (Baccalaureate in Religious Sciences) and/or second-cycle program (Licentiate in Religious Sciences) under the authority of the Faculty to which the ISSR is linked by Decree of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

However, in order for the degree to be valid, according to the regulations on connection (available at: https://www.dce.va/en/Official-Documents/DCE-Documents-Education.html), it is always the Faculty that issues the documentation (diploma and diploma supplement), not the connected Institute itself.

In case the wording is not “baccalaureate” or “licenciate” in Religious Sciences, contact the Faculty to which the ISSR is or was connected, to obtain a Certificate of Comparability, and possibly (in the case of having an old system qualification, “magistero in scienze religiose”), receive indications on the study path necessary to obtain the baccalaureate and/or licenciate in Religious Sciences. According to our information, qualifications awarded after studies at ISSR but incorrectly named as “Laurea” or “Laurea magistrale” in Religious Sciences, are not recognized by the Italian authorities.

The degrees awarded by the institutions belonging to the Higher Education system of the Holy See have exclusively the following titles: Baccalaureate, Licentiate and Doctorate.

According to the current Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (VG) "The academic degrees may assume different names in the Statutes of the individual Faculties, taking into account the university practice of the territory, clearly indicating however the equivalence that they have with the names of the academic degrees mentioned above and maintaining uniformity among the ecclesiastical Faculties of the same territory" (art. 47). Therefore, academic degrees could in principle be awarded both in Latin and/or, in the case in which the State is authorized, also in the native language of the local area in which the University is located.

The Diploma Supplement is a supplementary certification of the official qualification obtained at the end of a course of study at a university or higher education institution. It is a transparency tool that aims to facilitate the understanding and practices of recognition of qualifications and degrees obtained. The DS provides a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies undertaken and completed by the student, according to a standard model divided into 8 points, developed on the initiative of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO.

The Diploma Supplement is a supplementary certification of the official qualification obtained at the end of a course of study at a university or higher education institution. It is often issued automatically or upon request by the interested party in countries that are part of the Bologna Process (European area). However, it should be noted that it has not yet been implemented in all countries involved in the process. It is only valid if it is accompanied by the original certificate at the end of the course of study. It is issued free of charge by the institution where the original qualification was obtained and translated into two languages.

Many institutes issue a Transcript of Records to each student at the end of the academic year or semester. This is a document that allows the student to have an accurate and updated record of the studies completed and exams taken. It generally indicates the training units that he or she has chosen and followed, the number of credits acquired and the grades that have been attributed to him or her and which certifies and recognizes the results obtained.

Since the Holy See adheres to the Bologna process by its own right, it is the exclusive competent authority for ecclesiastical higher education institutions in Italy.

The academic qualifications issued by them are recognized by the Italian State following the procedures for foreign qualifications. For some ecclesiastical qualifications there are specific ministerial decrees that provide for the automatic recognition of particular qualifications.

For concordat recognition in Italy by the competent Ministry, only the Baccalaureate and Licentiate qualifications obtained in the ecclesiastical disciplines of Theology, Sacred Scripture, Canon Law, Liturgy, Spirituality, Missiology, and Religious Sciences are accepted.

Ecclesiastical titles in these and other disciplines may also, in addition to concordat recognition, be recognized based on the agreement between the Holy See and the Italian Republic of 13 February 2019 (link: https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/2021/aas-numerus-specialis_15sept2021.pdf , pages 37-44).

The competent body for Italy is CIMEA or the host university

For the sake of order, we note that in the practice of international recognition, one should not pronounce on whether or not recognition is in the jurisdiction of another State.

We also recall that the competent authority for recognition with effect for Italy is:

• for Baccalaureate and Licenciate, CIMEA - Information Center on Academic Mobility and Equivalence (www.cimea.en);
• for Doctorates, first the host university for further studies, and, secondly, the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research (MUR);
• for further studies, the host university.

The patronage of the Dicastery for Culture and Education is a form of support for an initiative deemed worthy for its cultural, artistic, scientific and pastoral purposes.

By “initiative” we mean activities organized by people or institutions, for example: artistic events, conferences, conventions, exhibitions and reviews