We need a culture that expands boundaries, that is not “sectarian” and does not position itself above others, but rather, it is in the mass of the world, introducing into it a good yeast that contributes to the good of humanity. This task, this “great hope”, is entrusted to all of you: the Pope said in a meeting with professors of the Catholic University of Leuven, the highlight of a visit to Belgium focused on celebrating the 600th anniversary. The oldest Catholic university in the world
Raimundo de Lima – Vatican News
The great mission of the university is to expand the boundaries and become an open space for man and society. This is what Francis said this Friday (27/09) in a meeting with professors of the Catholic University of Leuven, the highlight of his visit to Belgium, which focused on celebrating the 600th anniversary of the world’s oldest Catholic university. . Located about 26 km from the capital Brussels, Leuven (or Leuven) is located in the Flanders region of central Belgium. The pope’s pastoral visit is part of Francis’ 46th international apostolic journey, which began on Thursday, the 26th, with the first leg in Luxembourg.
Thanking the rector for his words and recalling the history and tradition in which this university is rooted and some of the current major challenges facing all of us, the Holy Father highlighted that the university’s first task is to “make provision”. Education is integrated so that people have the tools they need to interpret the present and plan for the future”. Indeed, he noted, cultural formation is not an end in itself and universities should not run the risk of becoming “cathedrals in the desert”; They are, by their very nature, spaces that inspire ideas and new impulses for human life and thought and society’s challenges, i.e. places to create. “It is good to think that the university creates culture, creates ideas, but above all it inspires the passion to seek truth in the service of human progress.”
In particular, Catholic universities like these are called to be “always open to new visions and proposals, to make a decisive contribution of the leaven, salt and light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the living tradition of the Church”. Therefore, I would like to offer you a simple invitation: expand the boundaries of knowledge! It is not the proliferation of ideas and theories, but rather the transformation of education and cultural training into a place of life, one that embodies life and speaks to life.
In our context, the pontiff told academics at a prestigious Belgian university, we face a chaotic situation of shrinking borders.
On the one hand, we are immersed in a culture marked by the renunciation of the search for truth. We lose interest in seeking refuge in the comfort of weak thinking, believing that all is equal, that one is as valuable as another, that everything is relative. On the other hand, in university contexts and elsewhere, when it comes to speaking the truth, we often fall into a rationalist attitude, according to which only what we can measure and experience is considered true, life reduced to matter. And know. In both cases, the boundaries are narrow, Francisco noted.
As for the first aspect, there is the weariness of the spirit, which leads us to perpetual uncertainty and disinterest, as if it were futile to search for meaning in an incomprehensible reality. However, with regard to the second aspect, we have a soulless rationalism, into which we run the risk of falling back, constrained by technological culture. When man is reduced to mere matter, when reality is confined to visible limits, when reason is only mathematical and “laboratory,” then wonder is lost, that inner wonder that drives us to look further, to skyward, to discover. A hidden truth that answers basic questions: Why do I live? What does it mean for my life? What is the ultimate purpose and goal of this path?
We will be aware that – as Rector said at the beginning – “we still don’t know everything”, but it is precisely this limitation that should always drive them, which helps to burn the flame of research and keep an open window. Addressing the world today, the Pope said to teachers.
In this regard, the Holy Father continued, I sincerely want to say to you: “Thank you! Because by expanding the borders, you have opened up the space to welcome many refugees who are forced to leave their lands, amidst countless insecurity, great difficulties and sometimes terrible suffering.
The Pope referred to a video shown earlier about aid for refugees, a very moving testimony of a young Palestinian woman. “While some are calling for the strengthening of boundaries, everyone here, as a university community, is expanding the boundaries, opening their arms to welcome these people marked by pain, helping them learn and grow,” he said.
This is what we need: a culture that expands boundaries, that does not “divide” or position itself above others, but rather, it is in the mass of the world, introducing into it a good leaven that contributes to the good. Humanity. This task, this “great hope”, is entrusted to all of you!
Francisco urged them to be protagonists in creating a culture of inclusion, compassion and attention to the fragile and great challenges of the world we live in.