UNIVERSITIES: PLACES OF AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN WISDOM

VATICAN CITY, OCT 25, 2002 (VIS) - This afternoon in the Vatican Basilica, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, presided at a Eucharistic celebration on the occasion of the beginning of the academic year of the ecclesiastical universities. The Pope delivered the homily and imparted the final blessing.

The Holy Father reminded professors and students that they were called "to pay constant attention in order to interpret the signs of the times in relation to the central Sign of divine Revelation, Christ the Lord. In particular, (universities) are called to lend themselves in an ever-renewed way to the service of unity of the Church. This unity, open to the Catholic dimension by its nature, finds here in Rome the ideal environment to be believed, studied and served."

"The unity of the ecclesial body," he continued, "preserves itself and is built through the bond of peace, in truth and charity. Therefore, it is necessary for your universities to be places of authentic Christian wisdom, in which everyone commits himself to work on a coherent synthesis between faith and life, between the theoretical and the practical."

In order to carry out this duty, John Paul II concluded, "may the saints be your teachers, especially the Doctors of the Church and those who spent their lives studying and teaching. They are, in the highest sense, the 'generation who searches for the face of God' and precisely for having been passionate contemplatives of the face of God, they knew how to convey to others the luminous reflections of truth, beauty and charity that come from Him."

HML;...;...;ECCLESIASTICAL UNIVERSITIES;VIS;20021028;Word: 280;