The Universidad Católica San Antonio ("Saint Anthony Catholic University"), also known as the Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), is a private university located in Murcia in southeastern Spain. Founded in 1996 by José Luis Mendoza Pérez, a lay Catholic, with the permission of Bishop Javier Azagra Labiano of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cartagena, UCAM offers undergraduate and graduate academic programs taught by faculty and researchers engaged with the quality of the education provided. The university is characterized by a firm commitment to Catholic orthodoxy and the moral and social doctrines of the Church.
In 1978 Pope John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which made allowance, in Article 3.3, for the establishment of Catholic universities by laypersons. Prior to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, only clergy and religious, along with affiliated institutions such as regional episcopal conferences and religious societies, were authorized under canon law to found institutes of higher learning under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Church. The document reflects the directives of the Second Vatican Council, which called for increased lay participation in the Church's liturgical and administrative life.