Towards the end of the 1960s, Protestant observers of the Second Vatican Council had proposed the foundation of an ecumenical institution. The Waldensian Faculty of Theology accepted the proposal and strongly supported the project. In the 1980s, individuals and institutions in the theological-church world in Germany became so deeply involved with the idea of an ecumenical institution that in 1997 concrete steps were taken for its implementation.
With the approval of the Waldensian-Methodist Synod of 2002 in Torre Pellice and the Lutheran Synod in 2002 in Assisi, the Centre was founded in 2002 -also to the delight of the Evangelical Church in Germany – by the Waldensian Faculty, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy and the Evangelical Lutheran Community in Rome.
In 2003, the association of “Friends of the Roman Melanchthon” (Freundeskreis Melanchthon Centre Rom e.V.) was founded in Tubingen, Germany. It supports the activities of the Study Centre and offers a platform for the students and all those who are interested.
Since 2007, the Rome Study Centre is an association recognised by Italian law under the name “Verein Centro Filippo Melantone – Protestant Centre for Ecumenical Studies” with his official seat in Rome.
In 2012, the first volume of the book series “Rome and Protestantism. Writings of the Melanchthon Centre in Rome” was published. The book reflects the contributions of an international conference in 2009, which was followed by other highly acclaimed conferences – such as “Martin Luther in Rome” (2011).
See also at https://www.centromelantone.org/research/publications/.
In 2012 the Centre celebrated its 10th anniversary. Several hundred students have now gone through the centre’s offerings.