Pope Francis with the University students
The University of Bologna has been a laboratory of humanism
for almost a thousand years said Pope Francis speaking to the students during
his short visit to Bologna on Sunday.
The word Universitas which entails the
idea of a ‘whole’ includes students from Italy, many European countries and
even from South America, who work on two ideals that of ‘vertical’ - imbibing
knowledge and ‘horizontal’ – sharing the research done for common good the Pope
noted.
The Pope particularly focused on three rights:
Right to culture.
The Holy Father referred not just to the sacred right of
everyone to study but also to the fact that today the ‘right to culture’ means
to protect wisdom, which is human and humanizing knowledge. For Pope Francis
learning serves to ask questions and to seek meaning in life. He said, one also
has the right and not to be distracted in order to make strong choices through
research, knowledge and sharing.
Culture he said is what nurtures and makes us grow.
Today he said we do not need loud screaming but words that reach the mind and
heart. He called them to devote themselves to education with passion,
that is to ‘draw out’ the best from each one for the good of all. He
called them to assert a culture of humanity that recognizes merits and
rewards sacrifices.
Right to hope.
Many today the pope said, experience loneliness and
restlessness, feeling the heavy air of abandonment. So it is necessary to
provide this right to hope, which he said is not to be invaded by the daily
rhetoric of fear and hatred, or be overwhelmed false news. It is the
right he said for the young to grow free of the fear of future and
know that there are beautiful and lasting realities in life and so it is worth
getting involved. It is a right he said to believe that true love
is not disposable and that our labour is not a mirage to achieve, but a promise
that needs to be sustained.
He wished that the university classrooms be a haven of hope,
where the students learn to be responsible for themselves and for the
world. He urged them to feel the responsibility for the future of our
common home.
Right to Peace.
Peace is both a right and a duty, inscribed in the heart of
humanity the pope affirmed. Referring to Europe’s quest for unity, he noted how
the two wars obscured the vision of peace in the continent. Denouncing
war as useless massacre he called the students to pursue ways of
nonviolence and paths of justice which foster peace.
The Pope invoked the right to peace as a right of all to
resolve conflicts without violence. To the students who have come
to study law this is a challenge he said to affirm the rights of people and
peoples, the weaker ones, those rejected and the creation our common
home.
In conclusion he called them not to believe those who say
fighting for the right is useless and nothing will change. Instead he urged
them to dream big not in their sleep but in broad daylight.
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