Changing world calls for new commitment to Catholic schools, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholic education, which has changed over the centuries, must continue to evolve to help young people face the challenges not only of technology but of confusion about the meaning and purpose of life, Pope Leo XIV said.

"I call upon all educational institutions to inaugurate a new season that speaks to the hearts of the younger generations, reuniting knowledge and meaning, competence and responsibility, faith and life," he wrote in an apostolic letter.

Titled "Disegnare Nuove Mappe Di Speranza" ("Drawing New Maps of Hope"), the letter was issued only in Italian Oct. 28. It marked the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Catholic Education.

In the letter, Pope Leo formally declared St. John Henry Newman "patron of the church's educational mission alongside St. Thomas Aquinas."

The pope was scheduled to formally proclaim St. Newman a "doctor of the church" Nov. 1 in recognition of his contribution to "the renewal of theology and to the understanding of the development of Christian doctrine." He was born in London Feb. 21, 1801, was ordained an Anglican priest, became Catholic in 1845, was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII and died in 1890.

Even in the face of the digital revolution and the advent of artificial intelligence, Pope Leo said, Catholic schools and universities show "a surprising resilience."

When they are "guided by the word of Christ, they do not retreat but press forward; they do not raise walls but build bridges. They respond creatively, opening new possibilities for the transmission of knowledge and meaning," he wrote.

Pope Leo asked Catholic educators and educational institutions to focus on "three priorities":
-- "The first regards the interior life: Young people seek depth; they need spaces of silence, discernment and dialogue with their consciences and with God.

-- "The second concerns a humane digital culture: We must educate in the wise use of technology and AI, placing the person before the algorithm, and harmonizing technical, emotional, social, spiritual and ecological forms of intelligence.

-- "The third concerns peace -- unarmed and disarming: Let us educate in nonviolent language, reconciliation and bridge-building rather than wall-building; may 'Blessed are the peacemakers' -- (Mt 5:9) -- become both the method and the content of learning."

At the same time, the pope said, it is obvious that Catholic schools cannot ignore technology or avoid it, but they must be discerning about digital platforms, data protection and fair access for all students.

"In any case," he said, "no algorithm can replace what makes education truly human: poetry, irony, love, art, imagination, the joy of discovery" and even learning from mistakes "as an opportunity for growth."

In the letter, the pope briefly traced the history of Catholic education from the "desert fathers" teaching with parables, to the monastic study and preservation of classic texts and scholasticism's highly structured and interdisciplinary curriculum.

But he also noted the huge array of Catholic saints throughout the ages who insisted that learning to read and write and add and subtract were matters of human dignity and so dedicated their lives and their religious orders to educating women and girls, the poor, migrants and refugees and others on the margins of society.

"Wherever access to education remains a privilege," Pope Leo wrote, "the church must push open doors and invent new pathways because to 'lose the poor' is to lose the very meaning of the school."

"To educate is an act of hope," he said.

Catholic schools and universities, the pope wrote, must be "places where questions are not silenced and doubt is not banned but accompanied. The 'heart speaks to heart,'" he said, quoting St. Newman's motto as a cardinal.

Parents, as the Second Vatican Council affirmed, are the first and primary educators of their children, the pope said, but "Christian education is a choral work: no one educates alone."

Those who teach in a Catholic institution, he said, "are called to a responsibility that goes beyond the employment contract: their witness is worth as much as their lesson."

And while the human person is at the center of all educational initiatives, the goal is to help that person learn to see beyond him- or herself and "discover the meaning of life, inalienable dignity and responsibility toward others," he wrote.

"Education is not merely the transmission of content but an apprenticeship in virtue," Pope Leo said. "It forms citizens capable of serving and believers capable of bearing witness -- men and women who are freer, not more isolated."

The pope also called on Catholic schools and universities to be models of social and "environmental justice," promoting simplicity and sustainable lifestyles and helping students recognize their responsibility for caring for the earth.

"Every small gesture -- avoiding waste, making responsible choices, defending the common good -- is an act of cultural and moral literacy," he wrote.