VATICAN CITY, 12 NOV 2009 (VIS) - Rome's LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria Santissma Assunta) this year celebrates the seventieth anniversary of its foundation by Servant of God Luigia Tincani. For the occasion, the Holy Father this morning received 7000 members of the institution led by the rector Giuseppe Dalla Torre and accompanied by Renato Schifani, president of the Italian Senate.
In his address to them the Holy Father recalled how LUMSA "began its activities in the climate of commitment to education aroused by Pius XI's Encyclical 'Divini illius Magistri'. Your university came into being, then, with a well-defined Catholic identity, also with the encouragement of the Holy See with which it maintains very close ties", he told his audience.
"As the cultural and legislative situation in Italy and Europe was undergoing a profound evolution", the Pope went on, "LUMSA continued to grow while maintaining a dual focus: remaining faithful to the original idea of Mother Tincani and, at the same time, responding to the new challenges of society.
"The modern context is, in fact, characterised by a worrying educational emergency in which the task of those called to teach assumes particular importance" the Holy Father added. This is because "any profession can become an occasion to bear witness to values that were absorbed during the academic period, and to translate them into practice".
Benedict XVI recalled that "the profound economic crisis which has spread throughout the world, and the causes that lie at is origins, have highlighted the need for more decisive and courageous investment in the field of knowledge and education, as a way to respond to the many ongoing challenges and to prepare the young generations to construct a better future".
"In a complex social and cultural panorama, Catholic universities are called to act with the Christian inspiration of individuals and of the university community as a whole, with incessant academic reflection, illuminated by faith and scientific research; with faithfulness to the Christian message as it is presented by the Church; with an institutional commitment to the service of the People of God".
LUMSA, the Holy Father proceeded, "is a Catholic university which has this Christian inspiration as a specific element of its identity. As its 'Magna Charta' reads, it aims to undertake academic activity oriented towards the search for truth, in a dialogue between faith and reason, in an ideal attempt to integrate knowledge and values".
"Today, as yesterday, the university needs true masters capable of transmitting, alongside academic information and knowledge, rigorous research methods and profound motivations", said the Holy Father. And he concluded by calling on the students to keep their "hearts and minds open to the truth" in order to become "builders of a more just and united society".
AC/LUMSA/... VIS 20091112 (470)
