Catholic universities must help students develop a broad vision, one that integrates faith, spirituality, and knowledge of the world. Source: CNS.
Catholic education should give students an approach that “does not oversimplify questions, that does not fear doubts, that overcomes intellectual laziness, and thus also defeats spiritual atrophy,” the Pope told students from the pontifical universities of Rome during an evening Mass yesterday.
He prayed that their studies would help them “express, explain, deepen and proclaim the reasons for the hope that is in us”.
The pontifical universities and institutes in Rome enrol more than 15,000 students from some 125 nations; they study theology and philosophy, but also liturgy, sacred music, communications, canon law, archaeology and other subjects.
Before the Mass, Pope Leo walked to a table set in front of the altar and signed his apostolic letter commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis.
To the applause of the students, the Pope held up the document after signing it, then walked down the central aisle of the basilica to vest for Mass.
The Vatican is expected to publish the document today; its title in Italian is Disegnare Nuove Mappe di Speranza, which could be “Drawing New Maps of Hope” in English.
In his homily at the Mass, Pope Leo prayed that the students, researchers and academics would be given “the grace of an overall vision, a gaze capable of grasping the horizon, of going beyond”.
Study at a Catholic university, he said, should help students look up, “toward God, toward others, toward the mystery of life”.
What students learn in university, and at every level of their educational journey, he said, should not remain “an abstract intellectual exercise, but become a reality capable of transforming life – of deepening our relationship with Christ, of helping us better understand the mystery of the Church and of making us bold witnesses of the Gospel in society”.
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Catholic universities must promote growth in faith, knowledge, Pope says (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
