This morning, in the study of the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience a delegation from the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, United States of America.

The following is the greeting addressed by the Pope to those present at the meeting:

Greeting of the Holy Father

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you.

Good morning to all of you, and welcome on this dark, rainy morning in Rome. The light shines from inside today!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am pleased to greet you during the 2026 Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Rome Seminar. As presidents and rectors of these Institutions, I trust that your experience here in the heart of the Church will serve to strengthen your faith and renew your commitment to the Church’s universal mission. In particular, dedicated as you are to the task of education, I pray that your hearts be all the more captivated by the beauty of truth and the grandeur of humanity, created by God and redeemed by Christ.

In light of the Encyclical Letter I recently published, I would like to address a few words to you concerning the decisive importance of Catholic education in today’s world. One of the challenges that the world of education is currently facing is the increasing fragmentation of knowledge. While it is easy to find people who are experts in a particular field of study, many of these individuals “struggle to find direction in their lives, partly due to an inability to connect information with deeper knowledge or maintain a sense of purpose” (Magnifica Humanitas, 146). They often lack a global vision of reality that is capable of uniting not only the various fields of knowledge, but also the multiple aspects of life and the inner longings of the human heart.

Catholic education has a particularly significant role to play in this regard. As young men and women come to your Colleges and Universities looking to study a specific degree, oftentimes motivated by future job perspectives, yours is the noble task of guiding that desire for knowledge so that they may also “learn to seek and love the truth, to reflect on the meaning of life and to recognize the dignity of every person” (ibid., 143). This is not an easy feat. As you are well aware, seeking the truth requires not only learning and mentorship, but also great effort (cf. ibid.,139). Unless Catholic education instills in students a true passion for the truth — and not only intellectual truth, but the Truth that is Christ himself (cf. Jn 14:6) — we can hardly expect people to be willing to put forth the effort required to recognize truth and adapt one’s life accordingly. Indeed, Catholic institutions are called to be a “living environment in which the Christian vision permeates every discipline and every interaction” (Apostolic Letter, Drawing New Maps of Hope, 5.2). Your authenticity as true disciples of Christ will certainly assist you in transmitting the living Gospel in such a way that those entrusted to you can truly encounter the Lord and discover in the Catholic faith the unifying vision that Truth alone can provide.

From a more practical or pedagogical perspective, recent technological advances also pose numerous challenges for the world of education. The prolific use of artificial intelligence makes it increasingly difficult to evaluate the work of students, requiring educators to adapt their methods creatively to ensure the integral human formation of those in their care, even when this oftentimes entails more work for teachers. In this sense, we must be willing to invest generously in the education of future generations. It is crucial that young men and women learn to engage positively with new technologies, while at the same time truly developing their God-given skills and capacities to reason, to think critically and commit knowledge to memory, thus preparing them to shape responsibly the world to come (cf. Magnifica Humanitas, 145).

Dear brothers and sisters, as you continue to carry out the Church’s evangelizing mission, it is my hope that students will always be able to find in your Institutions the sound doctrine (cf 2 Tim 4:3) entrusted to the Church that will serve as a true and lasting foundation not only for their lives, but for the future of the Nation. In thanking you for your presence here, and for your dedication to Catholic education, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing, which I willing extend to the people, the communities, and the Institutions you represent. Thank you very much.