Jubilee of the World of Education: La Salle educates from and for Fraternity

From 27 October to 2 November 2025, the Vatican will host the “Jubilee of the World of Education”, conceived as a global and intergenerational event, which will see the participation of all components of the educational system: educators, students and representatives of schools, universities and theological institutes from around the world. It will be an intense week of debates, conferences, cultural and spiritual meetings, designed to strengthen the role and mission of the educational world in the 21st century.

The event is organised by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and aims to bring together the global educational community for a moment of reflection, dialogue and spiritual and pedagogical renewal. The main themes focus on the future of education and the need to put integral human development back at the centre, especially in light of the fragility and challenges that young people face today. A key element of reflection is the 60th anniversary of the conciliar declaration Gravissimum Educationis on Christian education.

The programme includes a series of meetings ranging from spirituality to culture, with a focus on the central role of the educator. The Holy Mass presided over by the Holy Father, scheduled for Sunday 2 November, will be the culmination of the days of reflection, meeting and sharing.

The Brothers of the Christian Schools will also participate in these important days. They have received an explicit invitation from the Dicastery for Culture and Education to the Superior General, Br. Armin Luistro, to take part in the global educational village project, which includes the event “constellations of educational networks”. This is a real exhibition and sharing space that aims to: 

1. Showcase the richness of global education in order to highlight the vast “constellation” of institutions, religious orders, non-profit organisations and universities working in the field of education around the world. 
2. Create networks and alliances with the aim of connecting the different “stars” (educational networks), creating a “constellation” of hope and plans for the future, working and collaborating together.

In addition to the Brothers of the Christian Schools, as exhibitors and speakers, the key participants will include some of the largest Catholic and international educational networks: Jesuits, Salesians, Marist Brothers, the CEI, Vatican institutions and organisations that promote human development. 

The events of the “Village” and the “Constellations of Educational Networks” will be held in various venues in Rome, including the Sala San Pio X, which will host the sharing of these projects on Thursday 30 and Friday 31 October. This will be the part of the Jubilee dedicated to practice, discussion of educational models and the strengthening of global collaboration.

The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools will participate in the meeting with Brother Juan Antonio Ojeda, Consultor to the Dicastery for Culture and Education and member of the Vatican team of the Global Compact on Education; Andrea Sicignano, Director of the Office on Education; the Office of Information and Communication, and La Salle Foundation, who will be responsible for motivating the Institute’s presence at the event promoted by the Vatican.   

On 4 January 2025, Pope Francis, in audience with some representatives of Catholic schools in Italy, asked them this question: what is God’s educational method? “He himself answered that it is closeness, proximity”, comments Brother Juan Antonio Ojeda, “in addition to compassion and tenderness, which he had already spoken about in Fratelli tutti, commenting on the parable of the Good Samaritan”.

“Saint John Baptist de La Salle practised this pedagogy from the beginning. He drew close, very close, and loved with tenderness, that is, in a tender and concrete way, the children and young people of his time, according to their specific characteristics, especially the poorest and most neglected. He did not ignore them, he did not educate them in anonymity, indifference and distance. […] “He was close to them. He and the first Brothers chose to live among them in order to know them, understand them, involve them, in short, to have compassion for each one, individually and collectively”, continues Br. Juan Antonio Ojeda.

“Even today, we are called to practise the pedagogy of closeness, of fraternity, by being good Samaritans”. […] “As Pope Francis told us in May 2022: ‘renew your passion for the least among us’, just as Pope Leo XIV did in Dilexit te”, Fr. Ojeda reiterates. “Pope Francis, during his pontificate, has repeated several times that ‘to educate is to serve, and we educate in order to serve’. Only in this way can we educate well and generate hope, dignity and meaning in the new generations”.

Fr. Ojeda’s voice is joined by that of Professor Andrea Sicignano, who states that “in various situations around the world, particularly in the suburbs, we have become fully aware of our educational responsibility and are already living it out and putting it into practice through the pedagogy of fraternity, which is at the heart of our work”. 

“We know that our schools can be schools of fraternity in a divided world, because we have experienced it”, comments Sicignano. “As an educator, I have always thought that the most important things in life are the questions that help us move forward and think of new tools for a more fraternal world”.