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Transcripts and Diplomas

For those graduating, please make sure you apply for your Transcript of Records and your Diploma (might take months). It would be good to have them recognized by the Italian State as a civil degree, since the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) no longer recognizes Ecclesiastical Degrees from Pontifical Universities; having a Civil Recognition from Italy might (or might not) help.

The giving of “equivalence” by CHEd (e.g., Civil Masters or Doctorate, for an Ecclesiastical Licentiate or Doctorate, respectively) depends on its adherance to and stage of implemetation of the “Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education 2011″, of which the Holy See is a signatory, and which the Philippines might still be in the process of implementing.

To summarize, bring your Transcripts and Diploma in this order to:

  1. Congregation for Catholic Education
  2. Vatican’s Segreteria di Stato
  3. Philippine Embassy to the Holy See

OR (FOR CIVIL RECOGNITION IN ITALY):

3. Prefettura di Roma

4. Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica

If asking someone else to process it for you, you need to sign a delegation letter using plain bond paper, and a photocopy of his document:

======================

Prefettura di Roma
Ufficio Bollo
Via Ostiense 131 / L
Roma

Roma, [DATE]

Io, [YOUR NAME], delego ed autorizzo [DELEGATE’S NAME], nato a [DELEGATE’S BIRTHPLACE AS IN PASSPORT], con documento [NAME AND NUMBER OF HIS DOCUMENT – usually his Driver’s license or Passport] di richiedere la vidimazione necessaria per i miei documenti accademici.

Con saluti cordiali,

[SIGNATURE OVER PRINTED NAME]

=====================

Example of details, excerpted from the Angelicum Handbook 2016-2017 (check your own University’s Handbook):

PROCEDURE FOR THE RECOGNITION OF ECCLESIASTICAL DEGREES

1. Request from the Secretariat of the University the Diploma and the original certificate of the Baccalaureate or Licentiate Degree with the list of examinations taken. Make sure that the certificate contains the following statement: “With reference to the provisions of the Presidential
Decree no. 175 of 2 February 1994, it is certified that the overall teaching requirements for obtaining the Degree of Bachelor or Licentiate are not less than 13 or 20 annual installments (annualità), depending on whether it is the Baccalaureate or the Licentiate”;

2. Go to the Congregation for Catholic Education ( P.za Pius XII , 3 , Third floor) with the following documents:
a) The original and photocopy of the diploma to be authenticated;
b) the certificate of years of enrolLment, the examinations taken with any endorsements, with the relative marks and photocopies of the same.

3. Go to the Secretary of State of the Holy See (Vatican) with the certified copy of the diploma and the certificate of the examinations to get
the convalidation of the authenticity of the signatures;

4. Go the Philippine Embassy to the Holy See for the Red Ribbon.

[NOTE: at this point, the Philippine Embassy recognizes this as an Ecclesiastical Degree in the Holy See; this does not mean that it is giving an equivalence to any Civil Degree in the Philippines.]

FOR RECOGNITION AS A CIVIL DEGREE IN ITALY (this might or might not be of help in the Philippines; bring a second set of Documents, that also passed through steps 1-3 above, but which was not presented to the Philippine Embassy to the Holy See):

4. Instead of going to the Philippine Embassy to the Holy See, go to the Apostolic Nunciature in Italy (Via Po, 27);

5. Go to the Prefettura di Roma, Ufficio Bollo (Via Ostiense 131 / L) to obtain the endorsement (to get there: take the Metro line B, station Garbatella);

6. Deliver everything appropriately keeping a photocopy, accompanied by an application on ordinary paper [we still do not have a format for this – whoever has, please inform the PCF Rector], to the Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica (Piazzale Kennedy, 20, EUR – ROMA ).

NOTE: This is just a general guide to have an idea of the procedures. Policies may change anytime, hence it would be best to double check with your University on how to go about this.