Pope Leo XIV is calling Catholic universities to reject relativism and place Jesus Christ at the center of all learning, warning that knowledge without truth and charity can lose its purpose and dignity.
In a message marking the 60th anniversary of the Bolivian Catholic University “San Pablo”, the Holy Father reflected on the mission of Catholic education in a world increasingly shaped by confusion, fragmentation, and utilitarian thinking.
According to Vatican News, Pope Leo warned that modern culture is marked by “the fragmentation of knowledge, relativism, and the instrumentalization of understanding,” stressing that the principles found in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Veritas in Caritate remain essential for both academic and pastoral life.
The Pope said a Catholic university must be far more than a place of technical instruction or career preparation. Instead, he described it as “an academic community which, in a rigorous and critical way, contributes to the protection and development of human dignity and cultural heritage.”
Pope Leo emphasized that authentic education should form the entire human person, not simply prepare students for employment or social advancement. He explained that true formation cultivates “intellectual and moral faculties, responsible freedom, and commitment to the common good,” helping students become people who can think “with rigour, dialoguing with openness, and acting with integrity,” according to Vatican News.
Reflecting on the university’s motto, Veritas in Caritate (“Truth in Charity”), the Holy Father said the phrase captures the true mission of Catholic education when viewed through the lens of faith.
“For the Christian tradition,” Pope Leo said, truth “is not merely an intellectual ideal or an abstract concept.” Rather, he explained, truth “finds its identity in the person of Jesus Christ Himself, who reveals Himself as the Truth, and who fully reveals man to himself and shows him his supreme vocation.”
The Pope stressed that knowledge must always remain connected to charity and the dignity of the human person. “Truth sought with intellectual rigor and scientific honesty,” he said, “finds in charity its horizon and ultimate criterion.”
According to Vatican News, Pope Leo warned that when truth is separated from love and moral responsibility, knowledge risks becoming “a tool of domination, exclusion, or mere utility.” Instead, he urged Catholic institutions to direct learning toward “the service of justice and the dignity of every human being, especially the most vulnerable.”
The Pope also encouraged Catholic educators and students to integrate faith and reason rather than treating them as opposing forces. He described the vocation of a Catholic academic community as one that unites “knowledge and life, intellect and ethics, faith and reason, academic excellence and civic responsibility.”
Research, teaching, and professional formation, he said, should never become self-serving pursuits. Rather, they should help build “a more humane, just, and transcendentally open society, where knowledge is always at the service of the person.”
Pope Leo concluded his message by entrusting the university and its mission to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Seat of Wisdom, encouraging the institution to allow Veritas in Caritate to continue guiding its discernment and future mission.
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