VATICAN - Papal Message to 8th International Youth Forum: “You must build the Church within your Universities, as a visible community which believes, prays, gives account for our hope, and lovingly welcomes every trace of good, truth and beauty in University life.”

Thursday, 1 April 2004

Vatican City (Fides Service) - “It is important in our age to rediscover the bond that unites the Church to the world of higher education. For the Church not only played a decisive role in founding the first universities, but throughout the centuries she has been a workshop of culture, and continues in the same direction today through the Catholic Universities and various forms of presence in the vast world of higher education.” This is part of a message which Pope John Paul II addressed to young participants at the 8th International Youth Forum promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Laity on the theme: "Young people and the University: bearing witness to Christ in the University Environment " taking place at Rocca di Papa (outside Rome) 31 March to 4 April 2004.
“Dear students, in the University you are not only recipients of services, you are the true protagonists of the activities performed there - the Pope told the young people. It is no coincidence that the period spent in higher education is a vital stage in your existence in which you prepare yourselves to take on the responsibility for decisive choices that will direct the whole of your future life. It is for this reason that you must approach higher education with a searching spirit, to seek the right answers to the essential questions about the meaning of life, happiness and complete self-fulfilment, and beauty as the splendour of truth.”
The Pope remarked that also in our day in the university world new currents of thought reduce reason “ to the horizon of experimental science alone, and hence to technical and instrumental knowledge, sometimes enclosing it within a sceptical and nihilistic vision”. He posed a question to his young interlocutors who have accepted Jesus Christ “the truth of the universe and of history,” asking them “ how deeply does the truth of Christ affect your studies, research, knowledge of reality, and the comprehensive education of the human person?”. In the field of the university even people who profess themselves as Christians may behave as if God did not exist, the Pope said and he added: “Christianity is not a mere subjective religious preference, which is ultimately irrational, and relegated to the private sphere…We must demonstrate that faith and reason are not irreconcilable”.
The time at university must therefore be a time of spiritual and intellectual maturing leading to a deep personal relationship with Christ. “But if your faith is linked merely to fragments of tradition, fine sentiments or a generic religious ideology, you will certainly not be able to withstand the impact of the environment you are in. You must therefore seek to keep your Christian identity steadfast, and rooted in the communion of the Church. To do this, you must be nurtured by persevering in prayer. Whenever possible, seek out sound University professors and lecturers. Do not remain isolated in what are often difficult environments, but play an active part in the life of Church associations, movements and communities operating in the university environment. Draw close to the University parishes, and allow the chaplaincies to help you.”
Lastly the Pope urges to young people to “build the Church within your Universities, as a visible community which believes, prays, gives account for our hope, and lovingly welcomes every trace of good, truth and beauty in University life.”
At the end of the Message Pope John Paul II reminded the participants of the rendezvous in St Peter's Square today Thursday 1 April, where they will meet the young people from the Rome diocese, and later for the Palm Sunday Mass on the 19th World Youth Day with the theme “we want to see Jesus”, which will be the final stage in the spiritual preparation for the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005. “It is not enough to "speak" about Jesus to young undergraduates: we must also "show" Jesus to them, through the eloquent witness of our lives” the Pope concluded.”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/4/2004 - Righe 48; Parole 701)


Share: