Pope in Peru: Search for truth in universities becomes service to humanity

Visiting the Catholic University of Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo in Chiclayo, Peru, Pope Leo says universities must foster an encounter between faith and reason, and between religion and science, through dialogue and inquiry in service of the common good.

By Christopher Wells – link to article

Pope Leo on Friday outlined a broad vision of the role of universities in the modern world in an address at the Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo.

The gathering of students and professors, he said, “invites us to recall the legacy” of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, whose faith and knowledge “must continue to be the compass that guides research in these classrooms.”

“A university—in particular a Catholic university—is a living community where the search for truth becomes an act of love and service to the great human family,” he said.

In a world that is undergoing “complex cultural challenges,” he said a university is called, “above all, to serve Truth—with a capital ‘T’—who Christ, the Saviour of the world.”

Pope Leo went on to warn against the “temptation” for education simply to become training program for skilled workers, saying indifference to justice for workers and their dignity can lead to oppression and exclusion.

He also warned of “the most deadly risk of submission to the technocratic paradigm,” and encouraged professors and students to exercise critical thinking and to always “see that wisdom that neither machines nor computer programs can possess.”

To accomplish this mission, the Pope invited his audience to look to the example of St. Turibius, and especially his defence of the rights and dignity of the indigenous peoples.

“His pastoral work,” he said, “bears witness to how the logic of the incarnation continues to bear fruit in every time and place through the mission of the Church.”

He added, “a university modelled on his example is called to use scientific innovation to bridge social divides and heal society’s wounds.”

Turning to “a central issue in contemporary thought,” Pope Leo explored “the human limit,” including the “the promises of transhumanism and posthumanism” that claim to foresee the possibility of technology eliminating “all disease and pain, as well as aging and even death itself.”

“In the face of this mirage,” the Pope said, “Christian anthropology reminds us that limitation is not a manufacturing defect, but rather the very condition of human grandeur.”

Indeed, he continued, “limitations call us to solidarity and openness to the transcendent.” He pointed again to St. Turibius, whose experience of physical limits allowed him to transform “the ecclesial and social history of an entire country.”

Turning to students, the “natives of this new era,” Pope Leo called them to “embrace the opportunities it offers you.” He reflected on the witness testimonies given earlier by students, who showed that “faith always gives hope,” and gives meaning “to our crosses.”

“Both prayer and study,” he said, “transform our minds to the point of changing our lives.”

He then addressed the testimony of a university professor who had spoken on the meaning of sacrifice, which, though it implies “renunciation,” above all “means to make sacred, and therefore is a gesture through which our entire existence… acquires value.”

The Pope encouraged professors and academic leaders “to discover, with wonder and passion, that [their] work is a lofty expression of intellectual charity,” and to translate their “scientific expertise… into works of social justice, especially for the benefit of the poorest, and in the care of creation.”

Link to other events in Peru: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope.html