Pope Leo XIV has named three scholars from Italy, the United States and Poland as new members of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, bringing additional academic experience to a Vatican body dedicated to the study of Church history and its documentary heritage.
According to Vatican News, the Pope appointed Professors Umberto Longo, Francesco Cesareo and Anna Barańska to the committee.
Longo serves as director of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages in Rome, while Cesareo is president emeritus of Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Barańska is an associate professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, according to Vatican News.
The appointments add three historians to an institution whose roots stretch back more than seven decades and whose work has maintained a particular focus on the Church’s archival heritage.
The Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences was established in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. According to Vatican News, it inherited the tradition of the Cardinal Commission for Historical Studies, which Pope Leo XIII established through the Apostolic Letter Saepenumero considerantes on Aug. 18, 1883.
The committee has given sustained attention to the Vatican Archives and to scholars’ ability to study historical documents preserved by the Holy See. Vatican News reported that “numerous appeals have been addressed to the Popes” seeking greater and improved scholarly access to the Holy See’s archival collections.
The committee is currently chaired by Jesuit Father Marek Inglot, with Pierantonio Piatti serving as secretary, according to Vatican News.
With the appointments of Longo, Cesareo and Barańska, Pope Leo XIV has added scholars representing Catholic and historical institutions in three countries to a pontifical committee carrying forward a tradition of historical study that reaches back to the pontificate of Leo XIII.
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