by Sergio Lázaro Cabarrouy Fernández-Fontecha
Photo: Archivo IEPFV
Havana. May 9, 2022 – The Holy See has appointed M.Sc. President of the P. Félix Varela Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies. Yasmany Ibaldo Pérez Marañón, in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (art. 18), which regulates the operation of educational institutions attached to the Holy See.
The Institute, founded in 2013, collaborates in the evangelizing mission of the Church by promoting research and teaching of ecclesiastical and other related subjects, taught by an excellent faculty. Its first great chancellor was the late Cardinal Jaime Ortega, succeeded by Cardinal Juan García, current Archbishop of Havana. Meanwhile, the presidency to date has been occupied by Rev. Fr. Yosvany Carvajal Sureda.
With the announcement of the new appointment, the M.Sc. Yasmany Ibaldo Pérez Marañón (1989), who served as a professor and Academic Secretary of the Institute, becomes its second president, the first layman to govern it and the youngest to receive a pontifical appointment on the Island. Pérez Marañón is a jurist and bioethicist, He studied philosophy at the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary in Havana (2013), has a Law Degree from the Agrarian University of Havana (2017) and a Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the Catholic University of Valencia (2021), with a PhD project in Humanities (Anthropology profile) at the Francisco de Vitoria University. In addition to being President, the Holy See appointed him Permanent Professor of the Varela Institute.
Together with the new President, doctors Roberto José Méndez Martínez and Ivette de los Ángeles Fuentes de la Paz were appointed as Permanent Professor. This is the highest teaching category offered by the Holy See for professors serving in its institutions.
During the graduation ceremony and official start of the new academic year, the inauguration of the new President will take place on May 28, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. at the headquarters of our Institute, which is the Padre Félix Cultural Center. Varela, located in the building that was once occupied by the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary, cradle of Cuban nationality.