Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “We all have at heart the good of those we love, especially our children, adolescents and young people. We know in fact that it is on them that the future of our city depends. So we cannot fail to be concerned for the formation of the new generations, their capacity to orient themselves in life and to discern good from evil, for their wellbeing, not only physical but also moral”. This is part of a Letter on the theme of education dated 21 January which Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI addressed to “My dear brothers and sisters of Rome”.
The Pope recalls “it has never been easy to educate and today is seems more difficult than ever… so we speak of a serious ‘education emergency’, confirmed by the frequent failure of our efforts to form persons who are sound, capable of working with others and of giving meaning to life”. Blame for this situation is given to the new generations and to the adults of today. “Certainly there is a strong temptation among parents and teachers and educators in general to give up, and even before this there is a danger that they may fail to understand the role, or better the mission, with which they are entrusted. In actual fact this is not only a question of the personal responsibilities of adults or young people, which do exist and should not be overlooked, but also a widespread atmosphere, a mentality and a form of culture which lead people to doubt the value of the human person, the very significance of truth and goodness, in ultimate analysis, the goodness of life”.
With regard to discouragement which educators may feel, the Pope says: “Do not be afraid! These many difficulties are not insurmountable. Instead they are, so to say, the other side of the medal of that great and precious gift which is our freedom, and responsibility which rightly accompanies it… Even the greatest values of the past cannot be simply inherited, we must make them our own and renew them with an often painful personal decision”. In his Letter the Holy Father underlines that “today there is an increasing demand for education which is truly such ” and he indicates certain traits of authentic education: “It requires first of all that closeness and trust which are born of love … every genuine educator knows that in order to educate it is necessary to give something of self, and that this is the only way to help pupils overcome egoism and become in turn capable of authentic love … education would be very poor if it were limited to merely giving notions and information, and put aside the great question with regard to the truth, above all that truth which can guide life. Suffering is also part of the truth of our life. Therefore if we try to protect young people from difficulties and experiences of suffering, despite our good intentions, we risk, bringing up people who are fragile and not very generous”.
The most difficult point in education, in the Pope's opinion, “is to find the right balance of freedom and discipline”: “Without rules of behaviour and life, asserted day by day, even in small things, a character is not formed, a person is not prepared to face trials which will not be lacking in the future. The educational relationship is however first of all an encounter of two freedoms and successful education is formation to the proper use of freedom”. The Pope urges his readers to “accept the risk of freedom” but never to support the child or young person “who makes mistakes, pretend not to notice, or worse, share these mistakes, as if they were new frontiers of human progress”. This means that education “cannot do without that authoritativeness which renders the exercise of authority credible”.
In the second part of his letter, the Holy Father says “a sense of responsibility is decisive in education: responsibility of the educator, certainly, but also, to an extent which grows with age, responsibility of the child, the pupil, the young person entering the world of work. A responsible person is able to respond to himself and to others. Moreover a believer strives to respond first of all to God who loved him first” Without a doubt formation of the new generations with regard to good and evil, is influenced by ideas, life styles, laws, overall orientations of the society in which we live. However it should be remembered that “society is not an abstraction; in the end, we are all part of society, all together… There is need then of the contribution of each of us, each person, each family, each social group, if society, beginning with Rome this city of ours, is to become an environment more favourable for education.”
The Pope concludes urging his readers to have hope “the soul of education and the soul of life”. Sad to say, today our hope is threatened from many sides… Precisely here lies the difficulty perhaps most profound for undertaking real education: at the root of the crisis of education there is a crisis of confidence in life. I cannot therefore end this letter without a heartfelt call to place our hope in God … hope which addresses God is never hope for me alone, it is hope for others too: hope never isolates us, instead it makes us want to share what is good, it stimulates us to educate one another to truth and love.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 24/1/2008; righe 59, parole 886)
