About the Institute
A longtime philosopher-friend of Karol Wojtyla once said that Wojtyla had always been occupied with understanding the human person in terms of love. The mission of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute, in a profound sense, begins here—in this abiding conviction of the late Holy Father that love reveals the meaning of the person and, through the person, of all “flesh,” the whole of creation (cf. Familiaris consortio, 11; Redemptor hominis, 10; Dominum et vivificantem, 50). This conviction finds its paradigmatic expression in the great text of the Second Vatican Council:
“In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear. . . . Christ . . . in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself.” (Gaudium et spes, 22)
The Pontifical John Paul II Institute is devoted to the study of this truth about the human person in all its dimensions: theological, philosophical, anthropological, and indeed cosmological-scientific. The Institute centers its study of the person in the community that is the original cell of human society: marriage and family.
The Institute offers this study:
- Through four degree programs:
- Master of Theological Studies in Marriage and Family or in Biotechnology and Ethics
- Ph.D. in Theology
- Licentiate in Sacred Theology
- Doctorate in Sacred Theology
- Through the teaching and publication by expert faculty in systematic theology, theological anthropology, patristics, metaphysics, philosophy of science, canon law, psychology, and more
- Through lectures and conferences open to the public
- At the heart of the American Church in Washington, DC’s “Little Rome,” alongside The Catholic University of America, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and more than 30 religious houses
