The Formation Foundation’s partnership with the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross began in 1987 and has been providing sponsorships for diocesan seminarians and priests worldwide ever since. The university was conceived by Saint Josemaría Escrivá as a center of formation in Rome and made a reality by the work of Blessed Álvaro del Portillo and the encouragement of Saint John Paul II in 1984. In 1998 the school was awarded the status of a Pontifical University with a mission of enriching its students’ understanding of the Catholic faith while bolstering their capacity to dialogue with contemporary culture. The Santa Croce offers academic degrees in the fields of theology, canon law, philosophy, and church communications and is forming many of the current generation of lay and clerical leaders around the world.