As the Church marks the sixtieth anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis, Pope Leo XIV is calling Catholics to rediscover the sacred purpose of education: to form the mind and elevate the soul.
During a Mass for the Jubilee of the World of Education with students and faculty from Pontifical Universities, Pope Leo signed an Apostolic Letter commemorating the landmark Vatican II declaration on Christian education. The document, according to Vatican News, reflects on “the current relevance of the Conciliar Declaration and on the challenges that education has to face today.”
“Faith, like life itself, is not static”
In his homily at St. Peter’s Basilica, the Holy Father spoke of the spiritual meaning behind the Jubilee pilgrimage, reminding the faithful that “life makes sense only when it is lived as a journey.” He added that crossing the Holy Door is a sign that “faith, like life itself, is not static. It is a continual passing over—from death to life, from slavery to freedom,” an experience that calls believers to “constant renewal and hope,” according to Vatican News.
Learning as liberation
Drawing from the Gospel of Luke, Pope Leo reflected on Jesus’ healing of the woman “bent over for eighteen years” (Lk 13:10–17). Her physical restoration, he said, mirrors the intellectual and spiritual freedom that true learning brings.
“When human beings are incapable of seeing beyond themselves, beyond their own experiences, ideas and convictions,” the Pope said, “then they remain imprisoned, enslaved and incapable of forming mature judgments.” True study, he explained, becomes an act of liberation—“broadening horizons and perspectives in order to recover a vision that does not look downward, but is capable of looking upward: toward God, others and the mystery of life” (Vatican News).
Restoring unity between faith and reason
The Pope warned that modern society is “expert in the smallest details of reality” yet risks losing the greater vision that connects knowledge with meaning. He called on Catholic scholars and educators to restore the “harmony between intellect and spirit,” drawing inspiration from saints like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Ávila, and Edith Stein.
“The Church needs this unified perspective for both today and tomorrow,” he said, urging that study must not remain “an abstract intellectual exercise” but instead become “a force that transforms life, deepens faith, and strengthens witness to the Gospel,” according to Vatican News.
Education as love in action
Pope Leo described teaching itself as a “work of mercy.” Like the healing miracle in the Gospel, he said, education “lifts people up, helping them become themselves and able to develop informed consciences and the capacity for critical thinking.” He called this act “a form of charity expressed through study,” emphasizing that the hunger for truth is not merely academic but profoundly human. “To feed the hunger for truth and meaning,” he said, “is an essential task, since without them we would fall into emptiness and even succumb to death” (Vatican News).
Belonging to the Father
Concluding his homily, Pope Leo reminded educators and students that knowledge ultimately reveals our divine belonging. Quoting St. Paul—“You did not receive a spirit of slavery… but the Spirit of adoption” (Rom 8:15)—he affirmed that every vocation to study and teach is also a vocation to communion.
He prayed that all who pursue truth may be “men and women who are never bent in on themselves but always upright, carrying with them the joy and consolation of the Gospel wherever you go” (Vatican News).
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