Pope Francis says "In every age, one of the most important tasks for Christians is to recover the sense of incarnation. Without the incarnation, Christianity becomes an ideology..." to University Students in Portugal - FULL TEXT

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO PORTUGAL
ON THE OCCASION OF
XXXVII WORLD YOUTH DAY - 2 - 6 AUGUST 2023
MEETING WITH UNIVERSITY YOUNG PEOPLE
SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER
“Universidade Católica Portugesa” (Lisbon)
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Thank you, Madam Rector, for your words. Obrigado! You said that we all feel like "pilgrims". It is a beautiful word, the meaning of which deserves to be meditated upon; literally means leaving aside the usual routine and setting out with an intention, moving "across the fields" or "beyond one's borders", that is, outside one's comfort zone towards a horizon of meaning. In the term "pilgrim" we see the human condition reflected, because everyone is called to confront big questions that have no answer, a simplistic or immediate answer, but invite you to take a journey, to overcome yourself, to go further. It is a process that a university student understands well, because this is how science is born. And so does the spiritual quest grow. Being a pilgrim is walking towards a goal or looking for a goal. There is always the danger of walking in a labyrinth, where there is no destination.

And not even out. We distrust prefabricated formulas – they are labyrinthine – we distrust answers that seem close at hand, those answers slipped out of the sleeve like rigged playing cards; we are wary of those proposals that seem to give everything without asking for anything. We distrust! This distrust is a weapon to be able to move forward and not keep going in circles. One of Jesus' parables says that the pearl of great value is sought with intelligence and enterprise, and gives everything, risks everything he has to have it (cf. Mt 13:45-46). To seek and to risk: these are the two verbs of the pilgrim. Search and take risks.
Pessoa said, in a tormented but correct way, that «to be dissatisfied is to be men» (Mensagem, O Quinto Império). We must not be afraid of feeling restless, of thinking that what we are doing is not enough. Being dissatisfied, in this sense and to the right extent, is a good antidote against the presumption of self-sufficiency and against narcissism. Incompleteness characterizes our condition as seekers and pilgrims; as Jesus says, "we are in the world, but we are not of the world" (cf. Jn 17:16). We are on our way towards… We are called to something more, to a take-off without which there is no flight. So let us not be alarmed if we find ourselves internally thirsty, restless, incomplete, longing for meaning and a future, com saudade do futuro! And here, together with the saudade do futuro, don't forget to keep the memory of the future alive. We are not sick, we are alive! Let us rather worry when we are willing to replace the road ahead with stopping at any refreshment point, as long as it gives us the illusion of comfort; when we replace faces with screens, the real with the virtual; when, instead of tearing questions, we prefer easy answers that anesthetize. And we can find them in any manual on social relations, on how to behave. Easy answers anesthetize.
Friends, let me tell you: seek and risk, seek and risk. At this historic juncture the challenges are huge, painful moans. We are seeing a 3rd world war in pieces. But we embrace the risk of thinking that we are not in agony, but in childbirth; not at the end, but at the beginning of a great show. It takes courage to think this. So be protagonists of a "new choreography" that puts the human person at the centre, be choreographers of the dance of life. The words of the Rector were inspiring for me, especially when she said that «the university does not exist to preserve itself as an institution, but to respond courageously to the challenges of the present and the future». Self-preservation is a temptation, it is a conditioned reflex of fear, which makes us look at existence in a distorted way. If seeds preserved themselves, they would completely waste their generative power and condemn us to starvation; if winters preserved themselves, there would be no wonder of spring. So have the courage to replace fears with dreams. Replace fears with dreams: don't be administrators of fears, but entrepreneurs of dreams!
It would be a waste to think of a university committed to training the new generations only to perpetuate the current elitist and unequal system of the world, in which higher education remains a privilege for the few. If knowledge is not accepted as a responsibility, it becomes barren. If those who have received a higher education (which today, in Portugal and in the world, remains a privilege) do not make an effort to give back what they have benefited from, they have not fully understood what they have been offered. I like to think of the Book of Genesis; the first questions that God asks man are: "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9) and "Where is your brother?" (Gen 4.9). It will do us good to ask ourselves: where are they? Am I closed in my bubble or do I run the risk of leaving my security to become a practicing Christian, an artisan of justice, an artisan of beauty? And again: Where is my brother? Experiences of fraternal service such as the Missão País and many others that arise in the academic field should be considered indispensable for those who pass through a university. In fact, the educational qualification must not be seen only as a license to build personal well-being, but as a mandate to devote oneself to a more just society, a more inclusive, i.e. more advanced society. I was told that one of your great poets, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, in an interview which is a sort of testament, to the question: «What would you like to see realized in Portugal in this new century?», she answered without hesitation : «I would like to see social justice achieved, the reduction of the gap between rich and poor» (Entrevista de Joaci Oliveira, in Cidade Nova, nº 3/2001). I turn this question to you. Dear students, pilgrims of knowledge, what do you want to see done in Portugal and in the world? What changes, what transformations? And how can the university, especially the Catholic one, contribute to it?
Beatriz, Mahoor, Mariana, Tomás, thank you for your testimonies. They all had a tone of hope, a charge of realistic enthusiasm, without complaints but also without idealistic leaps forward. You want to be «protagonists, protagonists of change», as Mariana said. Listening to you, I thought of a phrase that perhaps is familiar to you, from the writer José de Almada Negreiros: "I dreamed of a country where everyone came to be masters" (A Invenção do Dia Claro). Even this old man who speaks to you - I'm old now - dreams that your generation will become a generation of teachers. Masters of Humanity. Masters of Compassion. Masters of new opportunities for the planet and its inhabitants. Teachers of Hope. And teachers who defend the life of the planet, threatened at this moment by a serious ecological destruction.
As some of you have underlined, we must recognize the dramatic urgency of caring for our common home. However, this cannot be done without a conversion of heart and a change in the anthropological vision underlying economics and politics. We cannot be satisfied with simple palliative measures or timid and ambiguous compromises. In this case "the middle ways are only a small delay in the disaster" (Encyclical letter Laudato si', 194). Don't forget: the middle ground is just a small delay in disaster. Instead, it is a question of taking charge of what unfortunately continues to be postponed: that is, the need to redefine what we call progress and evolution. Because, in the name of progress, there has been too much regression. Study well what I tell you: in the name of progress, too much regression has come. You are the generation that can win this challenge: you have the most advanced scientific and technological tools but please do not fall into the trap of partial visions. Don't forget that we need an integral ecology, we need to listen to the suffering of the planet together with that of the poor; we need to parallel the drama of desertification with that of refugees; the theme of migrations together with that of falling birth rates; we need to deal with the material dimension of life within a spiritual dimension. Do not create polarizations, but overall visions.
Thank you, Tomás, for saying that "an authentic integral ecology is not possible without God, that there can be no future in a world without God". I would like to tell you: make faith credible through choices. Because if faith doesn't generate convincing lifestyles it won't leaven the dough of the world. It is not enough for a Christian to be convinced, he must be convincing; our actions are called to reflect the joyful and at the same time radical beauty of the Gospel. Furthermore, Christianity cannot be inhabited as a fortress surrounded by walls, which raises ramparts against the world. Therefore I found Beatriz's testimony touching, when she said that it is she who "starts from the field of culture" feels called to live the Beatitudes. In every age, one of the most important tasks for Christians is to recover the sense of incarnation. Without the incarnation, Christianity becomes an ideology - and the temptation of Christian ideologies, in quotation marks, is very current. It is the incarnation that allows us to be amazed by the beauty that Christ reveals through every brother and sister, every man and woman.
In this regard, it is interesting that in your new chair dedicated to the "Economics of Francis" you have added the figure of Clare. The female contribution is indispensable. In the collective unconscious, how many times do we think that women are second-rate, they are reserves, they don't play as starters. This exists in the collective unconscious. The female contribution is essential. After all, the Bible shows how the family economy is largely in the hands of women. She, with her wisdom, is the true "regent" of the house, which does not exclusively have profit as its goal, but care, coexistence, the physical and spiritual well-being of all, and also sharing with the poor and strangers . It is exciting to undertake economic studies with this perspective: with the aim of giving back to the economy the dignity it deserves, so that it does not fall prey to the wild market and speculation.
The Global Education Pact initiative, and the seven principles that form its architecture, include many of these themes, from caring for the common home to the full participation of women, to the need to find new ways of understanding the economy, politics, growth and progress. I invite you to study the Global Education Pact and become passionate about it. One of the points it deals with is education for acceptance and inclusion. We cannot pretend that we have not heard Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 25: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (v. 35). I followed Mahoor's testimony with emotion, when she evoked what it means to live with «the constant feeling of absence of a home, family, friends [...], of being left without a home, without a university, without money [...], tired, exhausted and broken down by grief and loss.' You told us that you have rediscovered hope because someone believed in the transforming impact of the culture of encounter. Every time someone practices a gesture of hospitality, it brings about a transformation.
Friends, I am very happy to see you as a living educational community, open to reality, and aware that the Gospel is not an ornament, but animates the parts and the whole. I know that your journey includes various areas: study, friendship, social service, civil and political responsibility, care for the common home, artistic expressions... Being a Catholic university means above all this: that each element is in relation to the whole and that the whole is found in the parts. Thus, while scientific skills are acquired, one matures as a person, in self-knowledge and in the discernment of one's own path. Road yes, labyrinth no. So go ahead! A medieval tradition tells that when pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago passed each other, one greeted the other by exclaiming «Ultreia» and the other replied «et Suseia». They are expressions of encouragement to continue the search and the risk of the journey, saying to each other: "Come on, courage, go ahead!". This is what I also wish for all of you, with all my heart. Thank you.