At the Basilica of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial Friday Pope Benedict
XVI spoke to young university professors. Read the full text of his speech below:
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI TO MADRID - 26th WORLD YOUTH
DAY Meeting with Young University Professors, Basilica of the Monastery of San
Lorenzo de El Escorial. Address of the Holy Father Friday, 19 August 2011
Your
Eminence, My Brother Bishops, Dear Augustinian Fathers, Dear Professors, Distinguished
Authorities, Dear Friends,
I have looked forward to this meeting with you,
young professors in the universities of Spain. You provide a splendid service in
the spread of truth, in circumstances that are not always easy. I greet you warmly
and I thank you for your kind words of welcome and for the music which has marvellously
resounded in this magnificent monastery, for centuries an eloquent witness to the
life of prayer and study. In this highly symbolic place, reason and faith have harmoniously
blended in the austere stone to shape one of Spain’s most renowned monuments. I
also greet with particular affection those of you who took part in the recent World
Congress of Catholic Universities held in Avila on the theme: “The Identity and Mission
of the Catholic University”. Being here with you, I am reminded of my own first
steps as a professor at the University of Bonn. At the time, the wounds of war were
still deeply felt and we had many material needs; these were compensated by our passion
for an exciting activity, our interaction with colleagues of different disciplines
and our desire to respond to the deepest and most basic concerns of our students.
This experience of a “Universitas” of professors and students who together seek the
truth in all fields of knowledge, or as Alfonso X the Wise put it, this “counsel of
masters and students with the will and understanding needed to master the various
disciplines” (Siete Partidas, partida II, tit. XXXI), helps us to see more clearly
the importance, and even the definition, of the University. The theme of the present
World Youth Day – “Rooted and Built Up in Christ, and Firm in the Faith” (cf. Col
2:7) can also shed light on your efforts to understand more clearly your own identity
and what you are called to do. As I wrote in my Message to Young People in preparation
for these days, the terms “rooted, built up and firm” all point to solid foundations
on which we can construct our lives (cf. No. 2). But where will young people encounter
those reference points in a society which is increasingly confused and unstable?
At times one has the idea that the mission of a university professor nowadays is exclusively
that of forming competent and efficient professionals capable of satisfying the demand
for labor at any given time. One also hears it said that the only thing that matters
at the present moment is pure technical ability. This sort of utilitarian approach
to education is in fact becoming more widespread, even at the university level, promoted
especially by sectors outside the University. All the same, you who, like myself,
have had an experience of the University, and now are members of the teaching staff,
surely are looking for something more lofty and capable of embracing the full measure
of what it is to be human. We know that when mere utility and pure pragmatism become
the principal criteria, much is lost and the results can be tragic: from the abuses
associated with a science which acknowledges no limits beyond itself, to the political
totalitarianism which easily arises when one eliminates any higher reference than
the mere calculus of power. The authentic idea of the University, on the other hand,
is precisely what saves us from this reductionist and curtailed vision of humanity. In
truth, the University has always been, and is always called to be, the “house” where
one seeks the truth proper to the human person. Consequently it was not by accident
that the Church promoted the universities, for Christian faith speaks to us of Christ
as the Word through whom all things were made (cf. Jn 1:3) and of men and women as
made in the image and likeness of God. The Gospel message perceives a rationality
inherent in creation and considers man as a creature participating in, and capable
of attaining to, an understanding of this rationality. The University thus embodies
an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed
to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception
which would view man solely as a consumer. Here we see the vital importance of
your own mission. You yourselves have the honour and responsibility of transmitting
the ideal of the University: an ideal which you have received from your predecessors,
many of whom were humble followers of the Gospel and, as such, became spiritual giants.
We should feel ourselves their successors, in a time quite different from their own,
yet one in which the essential human questions continue to challenge and stimulate
us. With them, we realize that we are a link in that chain of men and women committed
to teaching the faith and making it credible to human reason. And we do this not
simply by our teaching, but by the way we live our faith and embody it, just as the
Word took flesh and dwelt among us. Young people need authentic teachers: persons
open to the fullness of truth in the various branches of knowledge, persons who listen
to and experience in own hearts that interdisciplinary dialogue; persons who, above
all, are convinced of our human capacity to advance along the path of truth. Youth
is a privileged time for seeking and encountering truth. As Plato said: “Seek truth
while you are young, for if you do not, it will later escape your grasp” (Parmenides,
135d). This lofty aspiration is the most precious gift which you can give to your
students, personally and by example. It is more important than mere technical know-how,
or cold and purely functional data. I urge you, then, never to lose that sense
of enthusiasm and concern for truth. Always remember that teaching is not just about
communicating content, but about forming young people. You need to understand and
love them, to awaken their innate thirst for truth and their yearning for transcendence.
Be for them a source of encouragement and strength. For this to happen, we need
to realize in the first place that the path to the fullness of truth calls for complete
commitment: it is a path of understanding and love, of reason and faith. We cannot
come to know something unless we are moved by love; or, for that matter, love something
which does not strike us as reasonable. “Understanding and love are not in separate
compartments: love is rich in understanding and understanding is full of love” (Caritas
in Veritate, 30). If truth and goodness go together, so too do knowledge and love.
This unity leads to consistency in life and thought, that ability to inspire demanded
of every good educator. In the second place, we need to recognize that truth itself
will always lie beyond our grasp. We can seek it and draw near to it, but we cannot
completely possess it; or put better, truth possesses us and inspires us. In intellectual
and educational activity the virtue of humility is also indispensable, since it protects
us from the pride which bars the way to truth. We must not draw students to ourselves,
but set them on the path toward the truth which we seek together. The Lord will help
you in this, for he asks you to be plain and effective like salt, or like the lamp
which quietly lights the room (cf. Mt 5:13). All these things, finally, remind
us to keep our gaze fixed on Christ, whose face radiates the Truth which enlightens
us. Christ is also the Way which leads to lasting fulfilment; he walks constantly
at our side and sustains us with his love. Rooted in him, you will prove good guides
to our young people. With this confidence I invoke upon you the protection of the
Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom. May she help you to cooperate with her Son by living
a life which is personally satisfying and which brings forth rich fruits of knowledge
and faith for your students.