Pope encourages Italy’s Catholic University to foster knowledge and faith

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Italy's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart is called "to be an interpreter of the Gospel in the educational and cultural sphere, in constant dialogue with the Church’s Magisterium."

Pope Leo XIV gave this encouragement in a letter on the occasion of the 102nd Day for the Italian university sent on the Pope's behalf by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to Archbishop Mario Delpini of Milan, the President of the Giuseppe Toniolo Institute for Higher Studies, the founding body of the University.

Love, faith, and knowledge

The Pope recalled that this year's theme is “The Experience of Knowledge," and therefore said it is helpful to begin with the well-known expression of Saint Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians: 'If I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Cor 13:2).'

The Holy Father stressed that Saint Paul's words invite us to reflect more deeply.

First, he said, we are reminded that knowledge is born from a love for learning, because the act of knowing is the fruit of a desire and a specific movement of the human soul even before it is an application of the intellect.

Wisdom for life

"Remembering this principle," the Pope said, "is fundamental, both for promoting a formation that does not generate distortions or instrumental and ideological uses of knowledge, and for ensuring a form of knowledge which, by recognizing the truth and goodness present in reality, can also be translated into wisdom for life."

Second, he suggested, it is helpful to bear in mind that such knowledge, arising from love for what is studied and for those with whom one relates, fosters the full development of learning capacities in an increasingly complex context that requires constant interaction among different fields of knowledge.

Pope Leo reiterated the need "to broaden the horizons of knowledge in order to achieve, always in the logic of love, a compelling and meaningful experience of learning."

He insisted that "only knowledge that is open and developed in this way, can contribute to the common good and overcome the many distortions caused by research aimed solely at economic profit and objectives of domination,"warning that "knowledge that is not oriented toward encounter and justice lies at the root of many evils, as attested by the troubled history in which we are immersed."

Processes of learning cannot be reduced to ever more powerful algorithms

Finally, in considering our own time and the advent of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, "which has a pervasive impact even on the forms of knowledge," the Pope said processes of learning cannot be reduced to the production of ever more powerful algorithms."

On the contrary, he said, they require "an adequate level of human responsibility and ethical discernment." 

Thus, he praised the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart for offering "a qualified and meaningful 'experience of knowledge,' by developing with fidelity and creativity the inspiration of university founders Father Agostino Gemelli and Blessed Armida Barelli, recognizing that 'in Christ-Wisdom there is, at the same time, what is most proper to our faith and what is most universal in human intelligence.'"

Recalling various initiatives fostering the university's development in the face of unprecedented challenges, Pope Leo described them as characteristics of a university "called to be an interpreter of the Gospel in the educational and cultural sphere, in constant dialogue with the Church’s Magisterium."

Finally, renewing his closeness and paternal accompaniment, Pope Leo XIV thanked the university community for their prayers and imparted his Apostolic Blessing.