It was no ordinary courtesy visit to Sapienza University. In the heart of Europe’s largest university, Pope Leo XIV delivered a message that resonated with the force of an existential manifesto. Before an expectant university community, the Pontiff took a stand against modern anxiety and geopolitical pessimism, offering students a definition that is already circulating through the halls of the faculties:  “We are not matter assembled by chance… We are a desire, not an algorithm! “

The end of the “dictatorship of performance”

With unusual warmth, the Bishop of Rome began his day in the University Chapel, defining his presence as a “pastoral visit” to connect with those seeking truth through study. However, it was in the Aula Magna where his discourse took a more serious turn, directly addressing the mental health crisis plaguing today’s youth.

Leo XIV denounced what he called  “the blackmail of expectations .” In a world obsessed with instant success, the Pope warned of a distorted system that exacerbates competitiveness and abandons young people to spirals of anxiety. “The omnipresent lie of reducing people to numbers must end,” he declared, urging students not to let anyone steal their future.

A cry against military spending

The Pope did not shy away from the most thorny issues of current international affairs. In a context marked by the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and Lebanon, he harshly criticized the increase in military spending in Europe.

“Do not call ‘defense’ a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity and impoverishes investments in education and health,” he stated emphatically.

For Leo XIV, the development of Artificial Intelligence in the field of warfare represents a dangerous “disengagement” of human decisions, a spiral of annihilation that can only be stopped with a radical commitment to life and diplomacy.

The University as a “Peace Alliance”

Addressing teachers, the Pope reminded them that  teaching is a form of charity  as vital as helping a migrant. He asked teachers not to limit themselves to transmitting technical knowledge, but to help students discern who they are. “What is the point of training a professional who does not cultivate their conscience?” he asked.

The meeting concluded with an invitation to “prophecy” in the face of the ecological and social crisis. The Pope encouraged the young people of Sapienza University—whose name, he reminded them, is of divine origin—to be  “artisans of an unarmed peace,” transforming their unease into political and social action to protect the Earth and uphold justice.

With this visit, Leo XIV seals a “new educational alliance” between the Church of Rome and the University, making it clear that, in the age of big data, what really matters is what cannot be programmed: human dignity and the desire for a new world.

Full text of the speech:

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV

TO THE “SAPIENZA” UNIVERSITY OF ROME

Main Hall Thursday, May 14, 2026

Impromptu greeting in the University Chapel.  Words of greeting to the students present in the Central Plaza of the Ateneo.  Speech of the Holy Father

Impromptu greeting in the University Chapel

Good morning! Greetings to everyone, to the Rector, to His Eminence, to the Auxiliary Bishops, to all of you students, and to the professors!

I wanted to begin this visit this morning here in the Chapel, in this beautiful church, a place of encounter with the Lord. Because, above all, this visit of mine this morning is a pastoral visit: to get to know the University a little, to meet you all, to be able to greet you and share a brief moment of faith. Whoever investigates, whoever studies, whoever seeks the truth, ultimately seeks God, will find God, will find God precisely in the beauty of creation, in the many ways in which God has chosen to leave his mark, in all that we are, especially as sons and daughters of God, creatures made in his image, but also in his creation.

So it’s a beautiful moment today to share a little with the university community, in this center of learning… I believe it’s the largest in all of Europe. And so, it truly is a blessing, a gift from God, to be here and experience this moment, knowing that it is God who has called us, it is God who has given us this wonderful creation. I wish you not only a good day, but also a good time studying, and that this time you spend at this University may truly be for all of you an encounter with God and with the beauty of life.

Now I give you my blessing, and then we’ll continue the visit to other places on the University campus.

[Blessing]

Well, good day, thank you all! Thank you for the welcome!

Heading towards the University Rectorate, the Holy Father addresses a few words of greeting to the students present in the Central Square of the Athenaeum:

Good morning everyone! Well, thank you for the warm welcome! I’m so happy to be here with you this morning; you can follow the entire meeting on your screens. I hope it will be a moment of grace, a moment of joy for the whole Sapienza community. Congratulations to you all, and I’ll see you later!

Address of the Holy Father

Magnificent Rector, political and civil authorities, illustrious teachers, researchers and technical-administrative staff and, above all, dear students!

I have gladly accepted the invitation to meet with the university community of Sapienza – University of Rome. Your University is known as a center of excellence in various disciplines and, at the same time, for its commitment to the right to education, including for those with limited financial resources, people with disabilities, prisoners, and those who have fled war zones. For example, I greatly appreciate that the Diocese of Rome and Sapienza have signed an agreement to open a university humanitarian corridor from the Gaza Strip. It is therefore important for me, as Bishop of Rome for just over a year, to be able to meet with you. With a shepherd’s heart, I would like to address the students first and then the faculty.

The avenues of the university campus, which I’ve walked to get here, are traversed daily by so many young people, filled with contrasting emotions. I imagine them sometimes carefree, joyful in their own youth, which, even in a troubled world marked by terrible injustices, allows them to feel that the future is yet to be written and that no one can steal it from them. Then, the studies they undertake, the friendships that blossom during these years, and the encounters with diverse intellectual masters are a promise of what can change us for the better, even before the reality that surrounds us. When the desire for truth becomes a quest, our boldness in study bears witness to the hope for a new world.

You know that I am spiritually connected to Saint Augustine, who was a restless young man: he also made serious mistakes, but nothing was lost of his passion for beauty and wisdom. In this regard, I have been pleased to receive a great number of questions from you—hundreds! Obviously, it is not possible to answer them all, but I am mindful of them, and I hope that each of you will seek more opportunities for dialogue. The university chaplaincies also exist for this purpose, where faith meets your questions.

However, this unease also has a sad side: we mustn’t hide the fact that many young people are struggling. Everyone goes through difficult times, but some may feel as though they never end. Today, this is increasingly due to the blackmail of expectations and the pressure to perform. It’s the omnipresent lie of a distorted system that reduces people to numbers, exacerbates competitiveness, and leaves us spiraling into anxiety. It is precisely this spiritual malaise experienced by many young people that reminds us that we are not the sum of our possessions, nor are we matter haphazardly assembled from a silent cosmos.  We are a desire, not an algorithm!  It is precisely this unique dignity that leads me to share two questions with you.

To you young people, this unease asks:  “Who are you?” Being ourselves, in fact, is the defining commitment of every man and woman’s life. “Who are you?” is the question we ask one another; the question we silently pose to God; the question only we can answer, by ourselves, but which we can never answer alone. We are our relationships, our language, our culture: all the more reason, it is vital that the university years be a time of profound encounters.

Therefore, to those who are older, the unease of youth asks:  “What kind of world are we leaving behind?” A world sadly deformed by wars and the rhetoric of war. It is a contamination of reason that, from a geopolitical perspective, pervades all social relations. The simplification that creates enemies must be corrected, especially in universities, with a respect for complexity and the wise exercise of memory. In particular, the tragedy of the 20th century must not be forgotten. The cry of “Never again war!” from my predecessors, so in keeping with the repudiation of war enshrined in the Italian Constitution, impels us toward a spiritual alliance with the sense of justice that dwells in the hearts of young people, with their vocation to not be confined by ideologies and national borders.

For example, in the last year, the growth in military spending worldwide, and particularly in Europe, has been enormous: we cannot call rearmament “defense” when it increases tensions and insecurity, impoverishes investments in education and health, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good. It is also necessary to monitor the development and application of artificial intelligence in the military and civilian spheres, so that it does not absolve human decision-making of responsibility and worsen the tragedy of conflicts. What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, in Iran, illustrates the inhumane evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation. Let study, research, and investment go in the opposite direction: let them be a radical “yes” to life! Yes to innocent life, yes to young life, yes to the lives of peoples who call for peace and justice!

A second area of ​​shared commitment concerns ecology. As Pope Francis told us in the Encyclical  Laudato si’ , “there is a very strong scientific consensus that we are facing a worrying warming of the climate system” (n. 23). More than a decade has passed since then, and beyond good intentions and some efforts directed in that direction, the situation does not appear to have improved.

In this context, I especially encourage you, dear young people, not to succumb to resignation, but instead transform your unease into prophecy. Especially those who believe know that history does not inevitably fall into the hands of death, but is always protected, whatever happens, by a God who creates life from nothing, who gives without taking, who shares without consuming. Today, precisely the implosion of a possessive and consumerist paradigm leaves the field open to the new that is already germinating: study, cultivate, and safeguard justice! Together with me and so many brothers and sisters, be artisans of true peace: peace that is both disarmed and disarming, humble and persevering, working for harmony among peoples and for the stewardship of the Earth.

All your intelligence and audacity are needed. You, in fact, can help those who came before you to re-establish a genuine horizon of meaning, so that we don’t get stuck on yet another quick snapshot of the situation we find ourselves in. It is necessary to move from interpretation to action: you, so little regarded by a society with ever-decreasing children, bear witness that humanity is capable of a future when it builds it with wisdom.

Your University, which bears a divine name, is a place of study and a center for experimentation, which for centuries has fostered critical thinking. In particular, you, the faculty, can cultivate a fruitful connection with the minds and hearts of young people: it is a demanding responsibility, of course, but also an exhilarating one. It is of utmost importance to believe in your students. Therefore, ask yourselves often: Do I have confidence in them?

Teaching is a form of charity, just as helping a migrant at sea, a poor person on the street, or a troubled conscience should be. It is about loving human life always and in every way, valuing its potential, speaking to the hearts of young people without focusing solely on their knowledge. Teaching then becomes bearing witness to values ​​through one’s life: it is caring for reality, it is welcoming what is not yet understood, that is, speaking the truth. What sense would it make, moreover, to train a researcher or professional who, nevertheless, does not cultivate their own conscience, their sense of justice and respect for what cannot and should not be controlled? Knowledge, in fact, is not only for achieving professional goals, but also for discerning who one is. Through lessons, practical experience, interaction with the community, theses, and doctorates, each student can always find new motivations, bringing order to study and life, to tools and ends.

My dearest friends, as I encourage you in this daily practice, my visit is intended as a sign of a renewed educational alliance between the Church in Rome and your prestigious University, which was born and grew precisely within the Church. I assure you all of my prayers, and I wholeheartedly invoke the Lord’s blessing upon the entire Sapienza community. Thank you!