THE Vatican has stripped the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, one of the most prominent centres of learning in Latin America, of its right to continue calling itself a Catholic university, saying it has damaged the interests of the Church.

The university in the Peruvian capital, Lima, was founded in 1917 and has been identified with liberal, progressive thinking for decades. The Vatican said the break came after the university had several times unilaterally modified its statutes and had "gravely prejudiced the interests of the Church". It did not elaborate further.