The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross was born from the desire of St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei, to create a center of higher ecclesiastical studies in Rome at the service of the whole Church. St. Josemaría’s first successor, Blessed Bishop Álvaro del Portillo, with the support of St. John Paul II, brought that desire to completion, inaugurating the Roman Academic Center in 1984.

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The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross is currently comprised of the Schools of Theology, Canon Law, Philosophy, and Church Communications, as well as the Higher Institute of Religious Studies “all’Apollinare” (ISSRA). The Academic Building is found in Palazzo S. Apollinare in Rome, while the Research Center and the Library are located on Via dei Farnesi.

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The University promotes a harmony between professional and intellectual formation on the one hand, and spiritual and theological formation on the other. The University is further called to establish a dialogue with contemporary culture. Due to its very nature as a center of ecclesiastical formation, it contains an enormous diversity of cultures, all sharing the common goal of studying the Faith's intelligibility. Academic activities, organized with an interdisciplinary spirit, are open to scholars and intellectuals from the economic, scientific, philosophical, and political fields.