On Friday, on the second day of his apostolic trip to Belgium, Pope Francis traveled from Brussels to Louvain to meet with university professors from this European Union country.
The meeting took place at the Catholic University of Louvain, which this year celebrates its 600th anniversary.
In his speech, the Pope reflected on the need for Catholic universities to offer comprehensive training to students, so that they can learn to interpret the present and plan for the future.
Universities, he said, foster the search for ideas and inspiration, as cultural formation is never static.
“It is a great achievement to see universities as generators of culture and ideas,” he added, “but above all as promoters of the passion to seek truth, in the service of human progress.”
In their mission to bring the Gospel to culture, Catholic universities must “expand the boundaries of knowledge,” creating a “critical space that understands and speaks about life.”
Pope Francis noted that our modern society seems to refuse to seek the truth and has lost the passion for the search, seeking only the comfort that ends up equalizing and relativizing everything.
This perspective results in an “intellectual fatigue” that closes us in on ourselves.
“There is also the danger of being attracted by an easy, effortless and comfortable ‘faith’ that questions nothing,” he added.
Another type of frontier that must be overcome, the Pope said, concerns a “soulless rationalism” that reduces everything to the material and visible.
“In this way,” he added, “we lose our sense of wonder, our capacity to marvel, which drives us to look beyond, to raise our eyes to heaven, to discover that hidden truth, which answers such fundamental questions as: Why am I alive? What is the meaning of my life?”
The Pope urged university professors to ask God for the grace to “expand our borders,” citing a biblical story from the Book of Chronicles about a man named Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10).
Our knowledge of our limitations, he said, propels us forward and invites us to “remain an open window to the world of today.”
Pope Francis also praised the Catholic University of Louvain for welcoming refugees in their search for a better home and for truth.
“What we need is a culture that expands borders and avoids ‘sectarianism’ or exalting oneself above others,” he said. “We need a culture immersed as good ‘leaven’ within our world, contributing to the common good of humanity.”
Pope Francis concluded by inviting university professors to help build a compassionate and inclusive culture that cares for the weak.
“Keep this flame alive; expand borders!” he said. “Be tireless seekers of the truth, and do not allow your enthusiasm to diminish so that you do not fall into intellectual lethargy.”
