Pope Francis Tells Students "The devil enters through the pockets. As long as markets are given pride of place then our common home will continue to suffer.”
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO LUXEMBOURG AND BELGIUM (September 26-29, 2024)
In the last public event of the second full-day of his Apostolic Journey to Belgium, Pope Francis met with students of the prestigious Catholic University of Louvain, which is celebrating the 600th since its founding. He was welcomed by members of the Rectoral Council, the Rector, Françoise Smets, and before entering the auditorium, he signed the Book of Honour. The letter presented by the students The students presented him a letter sharing their reflections on the themes of environmental responsibility, the role of universities in fostering awareness and change, and the need for a new cultural and spiritual approach to tackling current ecological and social crises. The letter is the result of a collective effort involving professors, young researchers, and students who gathered to discuss his Encyclical Letter ‘Laudato si’’ on the care of our common home. They focus on five themes: the philosophical and theological roots of the current climate crisis; the role of emotions and commitment; the issue of inequality; the position of women and attitudes of sobriety; and, solidarity in the face of the climate emergency.
MEETING WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Aula Magna of the “Université Catholique de Louvain”
Saturday, September 28, 2024
___________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Thank you, Madam Rector, for your kind words. Dear students, I am happy to meet you and listen to your reflections. In these words I hear passion and hope, a desire for justice, a search for truth.
Among the issues you address, I was struck by the one about the future and anguish. We see clearly how violent and arrogant the evil that destroys the environment and peoples is. It seems to know no restraint. War is its most brutal expression - you know that in a country, which I will not name, the investments that generate the most income today are weapons factories, it's bad! - and this seems to know no brake: war is a brutal expression; as are corruption and modern forms of slavery. War, corruption and new forms of slavery. Sometimes these evils pollute religion itself, which becomes an instrument of domination. Be careful! But this is blasphemy. The union of men with God, who is saving Love, thus becomes slavery. Even the name of the father, which is a revelation of care, becomes an expression of arrogance. God is Father, not master; he is Son and Brother, not dictator; he is Spirit of love, and not of domination.
We Christians know that evil does not have the last word - and we must be strong on this: evil does not have the last word - that its days are numbered, as they say. This does not take away our commitment, on the contrary it increases it: hope is our responsibility. A responsibility to take because hope never disappoints, never disappoints. And this certainty overcomes that pessimistic conscience, the style of Turandot… Hope never disappoints!
And now, three words: gratitude, mission, fidelity.
The first attitude is gratitude, because this house is given to us: we are not masters, we are guests and pilgrims on earth. The first to take care of it is God: we are first of all cared for by God, who created the earth – says Isaiah – “not as a horrid region, but to be inhabited” (see Is 45:18). And full of amazed gratitude is the eighth psalm: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, / the moon and the stars which you have established, / what is man that you are mindful of him, / the son of man, that you care for him?” (Ps 8:4-5). The heartfelt prayer that comes to me is: Thank you, O Father, for the starry sky and for life in this universe!
The second attitude is the mission: we are in the world to protect its beauty and cultivate it for the good of all, especially of posterity, the near future. This is the “ecological program” of the Church. But no development plan will succeed if arrogance, violence, rivalry remain in our consciences, even in our society. We must go to the source of the question, which is the heart of man. From the heart of man also comes the dramatic urgency of the ecological issue: from the arrogant indifference of the powerful, who always put economic interest first. Economic interest: money. I remember something my grandmother always told me: “Be careful in life because the devil enters through the pockets.” Economic interest. As long as it is like this, every appeal will be silenced or will be accepted only to the extent that it is convenient for the market. This “spirituality,” like this, of the market. And as long as the market remains in first place, our common home will suffer injustices. The beauty of the gift demands our responsibility: we are guests, not despots. In this regard, dear students, consider culture as the cultivation of the world, not just of ideas.
Here lies the challenge of integral development, which requires the third attitude: faithfulness. Faithfulness to God and faithfulness to man. This development in fact concerns all people in all aspects of their life: physical, moral, cultural, socio-political; and any form of oppression and waste is opposed to it. The Church denounces these abuses, committing herself first of all to the conversion of each of her members, of ourselves, to justice and truth. In this sense, integral development appeals to our holiness: it is a vocation to a just and happy life, for all.
And now, the choice to make is therefore between manipulating nature and cultivating nature. An option like this: either I manipulate nature or I cultivate nature. Starting from our human nature – think of eugenics, cybernetic organisms, artificial intelligence. The option between manipulating or cultivating also concerns our interior world.
Thinking about human ecology leads us to touch on a theme that is dear to you and even before me and my Predecessors: the role of women in the Church. I like what you said. Violence and injustice weigh heavily here, together with ideological prejudices. Therefore we need to rediscover the starting point: who is the woman and who is the Church. The Church is a woman, she is not “the” Church, she is “the” Church, she is the bride. The Church is the people of God, not a multinational company. The woman, in the people of God, is a daughter, a sister, a mother. As I am a son, a brother, a father. These are the relationships that express our being in the image of God, man and woman, together, not separately! In fact, women and men are people, not individuals; they are called from the “beginning” to love and be loved. A vocation that is a mission. And from here comes their role in society and in the Church (cf. St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem, 1).
What is characteristic of women, what is feminine, is not sanctioned by consensus or ideologies. And dignity is ensured by an original law, not written on paper, but in the flesh. Dignity is an inestimable good, an original quality, that no human law can give or take away. Starting from this dignity, common and shared, Christian culture always elaborates anew, in different contexts, the mission and life of man and woman and their reciprocal being for the other, in communion. Not one against the other, this would be feminism or machismo, and not in opposing claims, but man for woman and woman for man, together.
Let us remember that woman is at the heart of the salvific event. It is from Mary’s “yes” that God in person comes into the world. Woman is fruitful welcome, care, vital dedication. For this reason, women are more important than men, but it is bad when women want to be men: no, they are women, and this is “heavy”, it is important. Let us open our eyes to the many daily examples of love, from friendship to work, from study to social and ecclesial responsibility, from spousal marriage to motherhood, to virginity for the Kingdom of God and for service. Let us not forget, I repeat: the Church is women, it is not men, it is women.
You yourselves are here to grow as women and as men. You are on a journey, in formation as people. Therefore, your academic path includes different areas: research, friendship, social service, civil and political responsibility, artistic expressions...
I think of the experience you live every day, in this Catholic University of Louvain, and I share three simple and decisive aspects of formation: how to study? why to study? and for whom to study?
How to study: there is not only a method, as in every science, but also a style. Each person can cultivate their own. In fact, studying is always a way to know oneself and others. But there is also a common style, which can be shared in the university community. We study together: thanks to those who studied before me - teachers, classmates further ahead -, with those who study alongside me, in the classroom. Culture as self-care involves mutual care. There is no war between students and professors, there is dialogue, sometimes it is a somewhat intense dialogue but there is dialogue and dialogue makes the university community grow.
Second: why study. There is a reason that drives us and an objective that attracts us. They must be good, because the meaning of studying depends on them, the direction of our life depends on them. Sometimes I study to find that type of job, but I end up living for that. We become the "commodity", living for work. We do not live to work, but we work to live; it is easy to say it, but it requires commitment to put it into practice with consistency. And this word consistency is very important for everyone, but especially for you students. You must learn this attitude of coherence, be coherent.
Third: who do we study for? For ourselves? To be accountable to others? We study to be able to educate and serve others, first of all with the service of competence and authority. Before asking ourselves if studying is of any use, let us worry about serving someone. A good question that a university student can ask: who do I serve, myself? Or do I have an open heart for another service? Then the university degree attests to an ability for the common good. I study for myself, to work, to be useful, for the common good. And this must be very balanced, very balanced!
Dear students, it is a joy for me to share these reflections with you. And as we do so, we perceive that there is a greater reality that illuminates us and surpasses us: the truth. What is the truth? Pilate had asked this question. Without the truth, our life loses meaning. Studying makes sense when it seeks the truth, when it tries to find it, but with a critical spirit. But the truth, to find it, needs this critical attitude, so we can move forward. Studying makes sense when it seeks the truth, do not forget. And by seeking it, it understands that we are made to find it. The truth lets itself be found: it is welcoming, it is available, it is generous. If we give up seeking the truth together, studying becomes an instrument of power, of control over others. And I confess to you that it saddens me when I find, in any part of the world, universities only to prepare students to earn money or to have power. It is too individualistic, without community. The alma mater is the university community, the university, what helps us to create society, to create brotherhood. Studying without (seeking the truth) together is useless, it is useless, but it dominates. Instead, the truth makes us free (see John 8:32). Dear students, do you want freedom? Be researchers and witnesses of truth! Trying to be credible and consistent through the simplest daily choices. So this becomes, every day, what it wants to be, a Catholic University! And go forward, go forward, and do not enter into battles with ideological dichotomies, no. Do not forget: the Church is a woman and this will help us a lot.
Thank you for this meeting. Thank you for being good! Thank you! I bless you from the heart, you and your journey of formation. And please I ask you to pray for me. And if someone does not pray or does not know how to pray or does not want to pray at least send me good waves, because I need it! Thank you!
MEETING WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Aula Magna of the “Université Catholique de Louvain”
Saturday, September 28, 2024
___________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Thank you, Madam Rector, for your kind words. Dear students, I am happy to meet you and listen to your reflections. In these words I hear passion and hope, a desire for justice, a search for truth.
Among the issues you address, I was struck by the one about the future and anguish. We see clearly how violent and arrogant the evil that destroys the environment and peoples is. It seems to know no restraint. War is its most brutal expression - you know that in a country, which I will not name, the investments that generate the most income today are weapons factories, it's bad! - and this seems to know no brake: war is a brutal expression; as are corruption and modern forms of slavery. War, corruption and new forms of slavery. Sometimes these evils pollute religion itself, which becomes an instrument of domination. Be careful! But this is blasphemy. The union of men with God, who is saving Love, thus becomes slavery. Even the name of the father, which is a revelation of care, becomes an expression of arrogance. God is Father, not master; he is Son and Brother, not dictator; he is Spirit of love, and not of domination.
We Christians know that evil does not have the last word - and we must be strong on this: evil does not have the last word - that its days are numbered, as they say. This does not take away our commitment, on the contrary it increases it: hope is our responsibility. A responsibility to take because hope never disappoints, never disappoints. And this certainty overcomes that pessimistic conscience, the style of Turandot… Hope never disappoints!
And now, three words: gratitude, mission, fidelity.
The first attitude is gratitude, because this house is given to us: we are not masters, we are guests and pilgrims on earth. The first to take care of it is God: we are first of all cared for by God, who created the earth – says Isaiah – “not as a horrid region, but to be inhabited” (see Is 45:18). And full of amazed gratitude is the eighth psalm: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, / the moon and the stars which you have established, / what is man that you are mindful of him, / the son of man, that you care for him?” (Ps 8:4-5). The heartfelt prayer that comes to me is: Thank you, O Father, for the starry sky and for life in this universe!
The second attitude is the mission: we are in the world to protect its beauty and cultivate it for the good of all, especially of posterity, the near future. This is the “ecological program” of the Church. But no development plan will succeed if arrogance, violence, rivalry remain in our consciences, even in our society. We must go to the source of the question, which is the heart of man. From the heart of man also comes the dramatic urgency of the ecological issue: from the arrogant indifference of the powerful, who always put economic interest first. Economic interest: money. I remember something my grandmother always told me: “Be careful in life because the devil enters through the pockets.” Economic interest. As long as it is like this, every appeal will be silenced or will be accepted only to the extent that it is convenient for the market. This “spirituality,” like this, of the market. And as long as the market remains in first place, our common home will suffer injustices. The beauty of the gift demands our responsibility: we are guests, not despots. In this regard, dear students, consider culture as the cultivation of the world, not just of ideas.
Here lies the challenge of integral development, which requires the third attitude: faithfulness. Faithfulness to God and faithfulness to man. This development in fact concerns all people in all aspects of their life: physical, moral, cultural, socio-political; and any form of oppression and waste is opposed to it. The Church denounces these abuses, committing herself first of all to the conversion of each of her members, of ourselves, to justice and truth. In this sense, integral development appeals to our holiness: it is a vocation to a just and happy life, for all.
And now, the choice to make is therefore between manipulating nature and cultivating nature. An option like this: either I manipulate nature or I cultivate nature. Starting from our human nature – think of eugenics, cybernetic organisms, artificial intelligence. The option between manipulating or cultivating also concerns our interior world.
Thinking about human ecology leads us to touch on a theme that is dear to you and even before me and my Predecessors: the role of women in the Church. I like what you said. Violence and injustice weigh heavily here, together with ideological prejudices. Therefore we need to rediscover the starting point: who is the woman and who is the Church. The Church is a woman, she is not “the” Church, she is “the” Church, she is the bride. The Church is the people of God, not a multinational company. The woman, in the people of God, is a daughter, a sister, a mother. As I am a son, a brother, a father. These are the relationships that express our being in the image of God, man and woman, together, not separately! In fact, women and men are people, not individuals; they are called from the “beginning” to love and be loved. A vocation that is a mission. And from here comes their role in society and in the Church (cf. St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem, 1).
What is characteristic of women, what is feminine, is not sanctioned by consensus or ideologies. And dignity is ensured by an original law, not written on paper, but in the flesh. Dignity is an inestimable good, an original quality, that no human law can give or take away. Starting from this dignity, common and shared, Christian culture always elaborates anew, in different contexts, the mission and life of man and woman and their reciprocal being for the other, in communion. Not one against the other, this would be feminism or machismo, and not in opposing claims, but man for woman and woman for man, together.
Let us remember that woman is at the heart of the salvific event. It is from Mary’s “yes” that God in person comes into the world. Woman is fruitful welcome, care, vital dedication. For this reason, women are more important than men, but it is bad when women want to be men: no, they are women, and this is “heavy”, it is important. Let us open our eyes to the many daily examples of love, from friendship to work, from study to social and ecclesial responsibility, from spousal marriage to motherhood, to virginity for the Kingdom of God and for service. Let us not forget, I repeat: the Church is women, it is not men, it is women.
You yourselves are here to grow as women and as men. You are on a journey, in formation as people. Therefore, your academic path includes different areas: research, friendship, social service, civil and political responsibility, artistic expressions...
I think of the experience you live every day, in this Catholic University of Louvain, and I share three simple and decisive aspects of formation: how to study? why to study? and for whom to study?
How to study: there is not only a method, as in every science, but also a style. Each person can cultivate their own. In fact, studying is always a way to know oneself and others. But there is also a common style, which can be shared in the university community. We study together: thanks to those who studied before me - teachers, classmates further ahead -, with those who study alongside me, in the classroom. Culture as self-care involves mutual care. There is no war between students and professors, there is dialogue, sometimes it is a somewhat intense dialogue but there is dialogue and dialogue makes the university community grow.
Second: why study. There is a reason that drives us and an objective that attracts us. They must be good, because the meaning of studying depends on them, the direction of our life depends on them. Sometimes I study to find that type of job, but I end up living for that. We become the "commodity", living for work. We do not live to work, but we work to live; it is easy to say it, but it requires commitment to put it into practice with consistency. And this word consistency is very important for everyone, but especially for you students. You must learn this attitude of coherence, be coherent.
Third: who do we study for? For ourselves? To be accountable to others? We study to be able to educate and serve others, first of all with the service of competence and authority. Before asking ourselves if studying is of any use, let us worry about serving someone. A good question that a university student can ask: who do I serve, myself? Or do I have an open heart for another service? Then the university degree attests to an ability for the common good. I study for myself, to work, to be useful, for the common good. And this must be very balanced, very balanced!
Dear students, it is a joy for me to share these reflections with you. And as we do so, we perceive that there is a greater reality that illuminates us and surpasses us: the truth. What is the truth? Pilate had asked this question. Without the truth, our life loses meaning. Studying makes sense when it seeks the truth, when it tries to find it, but with a critical spirit. But the truth, to find it, needs this critical attitude, so we can move forward. Studying makes sense when it seeks the truth, do not forget. And by seeking it, it understands that we are made to find it. The truth lets itself be found: it is welcoming, it is available, it is generous. If we give up seeking the truth together, studying becomes an instrument of power, of control over others. And I confess to you that it saddens me when I find, in any part of the world, universities only to prepare students to earn money or to have power. It is too individualistic, without community. The alma mater is the university community, the university, what helps us to create society, to create brotherhood. Studying without (seeking the truth) together is useless, it is useless, but it dominates. Instead, the truth makes us free (see John 8:32). Dear students, do you want freedom? Be researchers and witnesses of truth! Trying to be credible and consistent through the simplest daily choices. So this becomes, every day, what it wants to be, a Catholic University! And go forward, go forward, and do not enter into battles with ideological dichotomies, no. Do not forget: the Church is a woman and this will help us a lot.
Thank you for this meeting. Thank you for being good! Thank you! I bless you from the heart, you and your journey of formation. And please I ask you to pray for me. And if someone does not pray or does not know how to pray or does not want to pray at least send me good waves, because I need it! Thank you!
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