Pope Francis has appointed a Redemptorist priest, Father Alfonso Amarante, as rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, giving him the title of archbishop.
An Italian native, the archbishop-designate has been serving as rector of the graduate institute for moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy, and professor of moral theology at the Lateran University. He succeeds Vincenzo Buonomo, who in 2018 had become the first layman to be rector of the Lateran University.
In his letter of appointment, Pope Francis asked the new rector to “make the Lateran University more robust and agile to better honor its first task: to proclaim the truth and joy of the Gospel through study, reflection, and academic work.