{"id":120307,"date":"2025-11-03T12:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/?p=120307"},"modified":"2025-11-03T12:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:10:36","slug":"pope-education-is-founded-on-interiority-unity-love-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/pope-education-is-founded-on-interiority-unity-love-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope: Education is founded on interiority, unity, love, and hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"PDF<\/span><\/a>\"image_print\"PRINT<\/span><\/a><\/div>

The Pope meets with 15,000 teachers and students in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the Jubilee of the World of Education and calls on teachers to connect with the \u201cinner selves\u201d of their students, because without a profound encounter with them, \u201cany educational proposal is doomed to failure\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was on his own experience as a teacher at Augustinian educational institutions that Pope Leo XIV based his address to educators from around the world, gathered in St Peter\u2019s Square for the Jubilee of the World of Education.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interior life, unity, love, and joy, four key aspects of the doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas: these are, according to the Augustinian Pope, the cornerstones of Christian education.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his address, the Pope urged that these become the \u201ckey elements\u201d of educational practice, which he believes helps to embody the face of \u201cthe Church (\u2026) Mother and Teacher (\u2026) for the many pupils and students to whose education you dedicate yourselves\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Deep human encounter<\/b><\/h2><\/div>

Drawing on a saying of Saint Augustine \u2013 \u201cthe sound of our words strikes the ears, but the true Teacher is within\u201d \u2013 the Pope reminded his audience that \u201cit is a mistake to think that beautiful words or well-equipped classrooms, laboratories, and libraries are enough to teach\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are merely means and physical spaces, useful indeed, but the Teacher is within\u201d, he said, stressing that truth does not flow through sounds, walls, or corridors, but through \u201cthe deep encounter between persons \u2013 without which every educational proposal is doomed to fail\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Interiority<\/b><\/h2><\/div>

Continuing this reflection, the Pope noted that students today need help to \u201ccome into contact with their inner selves\u201d, emphasizing the challenge of superficiality in a world \u201cdominated by screens and technological filters\u201d. He also pointed out that even educators \u2013 \u201coften tired and burdened with bureaucratic tasks\u201d \u2013 run the real risk of forgetting the\u00a0<\/span>cor ad cor loquitur<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(\u201cheart speaks to heart\u201d), an expression by Saint John Henry Newman that echoes Augustine\u2019s own exhortation: \u201cDo not look outside yourself. Return to yourself. The truth dwells within\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Pope, these two expressions invite us to see education as \u201ca journey on which teachers and learners walk together \u2013 aware that their search is never in vain, but also that they must continue to seek even after they have found\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly this humble and shared effort\u201d, he said, \u201cwhich in the school setting takes the form of an educational project, can bring students and teachers closer to the truth\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Love<\/b><\/h2><\/div>

Turning to the third point, love, the Pope stressed that \u201cin order to teach, sharing knowledge alone is not enough \u2013 there must be love\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching can never be separated from love\u201d, he said, \u201cand one of the challenges of our societies today is that we no longer sufficiently value the immense contribution that teachers and educators make to the community in this regard\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only when love is involved, he stressed, will teaching be truly fruitful \u2013 \u201cnot only in its content, but above all in the charity it conveys\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Joy<\/b><\/h2><\/div>

Finally, on the theme of joy, the Pope remarked that \u201ctrue teachers teach with a smile, and their challenge is to awaken smiles deep within the souls of their students\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

He expressed concern that today\u2019s educational environments increasingly show \u201csigns of widespread inner fragility at all ages\u201d. \u201cWe cannot close our eyes to these silent cries for help\u201d, Pope Leo warned. \u201cWe must instead strive to identify their deepest causes\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence, he cautioned, with its \u201ctechnical, cold, and standardized knowledge,\u201d risks isolating already-isolated students even further, giving them the illusion that they do not need others \u2013 or worse, that they are not worthy of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this context, the Pope said, the educator\u2019s role is one of human engagement \u2013 \u201cand the very joy of the educational process is profoundly human, a flame that fuses souls together and makes them one\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

* Article published in Vatican News. By: Fabrice Bagendekere Photo: Vatican Media.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":120302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3386,3367],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-see","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120308,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120307\/revisions\/120308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}