POPE WELCOMES TEACHERS, STUDENTS FROM POLISH UNIVERSITY

VATICAN CITY, SEP 11, 2000 (VIS) - Today in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father received 500 teachers and students from his alma mater, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, who came to Rome for the concluding ceremonies of the Jubilee of Universities.

The Pope cited his words during a 1997 encounter with Jagiellonian faculty and students when he said that "the duty of an academic institution is in a certain sense to form souls for wisdom and knowledge, for the formation of minds and hearts." He added that the principles of serving the truth and creating critical consciences and ethical sensitivities belong as much to the university today as they did in the past.

"Taking into consideration the future of Poland and of Europe," he observed, "I wish to note a very concrete duty facing academic institutions in Poland, especially the Jagiellonian University. It is a question of forming in the nation a healthy spirit of patriotism. ... What has always been alive here is the awareness that the homeland is a patrimony which not only includes a certain reserve of material goods on a given territory, but is above all a treasure, unique of its kind, of spiritual values and contents, that is to say, of everything which composes the culture of a nation."

In closing, John Paul II said that "Poland needs enlightened patriots, capable of sacrifice for love of country, and at the same time prepared for a creative exchange of spiritual patrimony with the nations of Europe who are being unified."

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