What happened?
More than 150 students have signed a letter protesting against sweeping changes to the John Paul II Institute in Rome. The institute, founded to study issues around the family, bioethics and moral theology, is being reformed under new statues, which the leaders say follow Pope Francis’s reform plans.
The students expressed concern that two professors, Mgr Livio Melina and Fr José Noriega, are being removed, and that the curriculum is being overhauled.
What the critics said
The students said that the new programme of studies would mean the end of the institute’s identity, and make it too secular in its focus.
