Distinguished members of the
International Federation of Catholic Universities,

In the context of the 28th General Assembly of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, which is taking place this year in Guadalajara, Mexico, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share some brief reflections.

The motto inspiring the celebration of the IFCU’s centenary is: “Catholic universities, choreographers of knowledge”. This is a beautiful expression, inviting harmony, unity, dynamism and joy. In this context, we must ask ourselves what music we are following. In our time, perhaps more than in other eras, there is an abundance of “siren songs” that are attractive because of their novelty, their popularity or, on other occasions, the apparent security they instil. Beyond such impressions, which are superficial in themselves, Catholic universities are called to become “pathways of the mind towards God”, following the felicitous expression of Saint Bonaventure, so that Saint Augustine's timely exhortation may become a reality in us: “See, brethren, what there is in a human soul. It has not of itself light, has not of itself powers: but all that is fair in a soul, is virtue and wisdom: but it neither is wise for itself, nor strong for itself, not itself is light to itself … There is a certain origin and fountain of virtue, there is a certain root of wisdom, there is a certain, so to speak, if this also must be said, region of unchangeable truth: from this the soul withdrawing is made dark, drawing near is made light” (Exposition on Psalm 58, I, 18).

The university environment, with its characteristic dialogue between distinct world views, is not extraneous to the life and work of the Church. To see why, it is worth recalling, albeit briefly, how Christians, from the very beginning of evangelization, clearly perceived that the Good News could not be proclaimed without clarifying to what extent it was or was not compatible with other ways of seeing the world and other proposals about what it means to be human and to live in society. In this regard Saint Paul’s question to the Christians of Rome is relevant, in which he invites them to compare their current way of life with the one they had before: “But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death” (Rm 6:21). Those peoples of the classical world were not lacking in intelligence, and yet the end and outcome of all their reasoning is summed up, for the Apostle, in the word “death”. Why? What was missing? Christ was missing, the Word and Wisdom of the Father; the One through whom and for whom all things were made was lacking (cf. Col 1:16). Christ does not come as a stranger to rational discourse but rather as the keystone that gives meaning and harmony to all our thinking, to all our desires and projects to improve the present life and to give purpose and transcendence to human effort.

Saint Thomas understood well that Christ-Wisdom is both the most essential aspect of our faith and the most universal aspect of human intelligence. Therefore, wisdom, understood in this way, is the natural place of encounter and dialogue with all cultures and all forms of thought. We read in his Commentary on Sentences that wisdom, “whether the intellectual virtue or the gift, is principally about divine things. And insofar as he can make judgments about all other things, the wise man is said to be the most certain of all” (III, d. 35, q.2, a.2, qc. 2). Thus, we do not have to distance ourselves from Christ, nor relativise his unique and proper place, in order to engage in respectful and fruitful dialogue with other schools of knowledge, ancient or recent.

Dear brothers and sisters, with the desire that Christ-Wisdom—the Truth made Person, who draws the world to himself—may be the compass that guides the work of the university institutions you preside over, and that your loving knowledge may be the impetus for a new evangelization in the field of Catholic higher education, I impart to all of you the Apostolic Blessing.

Vatican, 21 July 2025

LEO PP. XIV

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 28 July 2025