Contribute to peace, stop bullying in schools, pope tells educators

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Schools need to develop and transmit a new culture of inclusion, responsibility and the discernment of what is good, true and beautiful to face today's challenges, Pope Francis said.

"At school you can 'imagine peace,' that is, lay the foundations for a more just and fraternal world, with the contribution of all disciplines and the creativity of children and young people," he said during an audience at the Vatican Jan. 4 with representatives of an Italian Catholic union of teachers and school staff, an Italian association of Catholic teachers and an association of Catholic school parents.

"But if at school you wage war among yourselves, if at school you bully girls and boys who have problems, that is preparing for war, not peace," he said, repeatedly calling on his visitors to shout out, "No bullying!"

"A good teacher is a man or woman of hope because they devote themselves with confidence and patience to a project of human growth," the pope told the group. "Their hope is not naive; it is rooted in reality, sustained by the conviction that every educational effort has value and that every person has dignity and every person has a vocation that deserves to be nurtured."

"It pains me when I see children who are not educated and who go to work, many times exploited, or who go looking for food or things to sell among the rubbish," he said.

Since hope is what sustains the educator every day, hope must be nurtured by keeping one's eyes "fixed on Jesus, teacher and traveling companion: this allows us truly to be pilgrims of hope," he said.

Christian hope is born of faith and lives in charity, he said, and "it opens minds and hearts to life and eternal beauty."

"The school needs this," he said. "You are called to develop and transmit a new culture based on the encounter between generations, on inclusion, on the discernment of the true, the good and the beautiful; a culture of responsibility, both personal and collective, to face global challenges such as the environmental, social and economic crises, and the great challenge of peace."

Pope Francis encouraged the teachers, staff and parents to support "young teachers who are taking their first steps in school" and "families who feel alone in their educational task."

A school is not "a container" but is made up of all the people who live and work there, he said. A school is "a community in need of the contribution of everyone."