Pope to Belgian professors: Expand boundaries, seek truth

By Devin Watkins

On the second day of his Apostolic Journey to Belgium on Friday, Pope Francis traveled from Brussels to Leuven to meet with the EU nation’s university professors.

The encounter took place at the Catholic University of Leuven, which is celebrating its 600th anniversary this year.

In his address, the Pope reflected on the need for Catholic universities to offer integral formation for students, so that they may learn to interpret the present and plan for the future.

Universities, he said, drive the search for ideas and inspiration, since cultural formation is never fixed.

“It is a fine thing to view universities as generating culture and ideas,” he added, “but above all as promoting the passion for seeking truth, at the service of human progress.”

In their mission to bring the Gospel to culture, Catholic universities must “expand the boundaries of knowledge,” he said, creating a “critical space that both understands and speaks about life.”

Pope Francis said our modern society seems to refuse to seek the truth and has lost the passion for searching, looking only for comfort that ends up making everything equal and relative.

This outlook results in an “intellectual weariness” that closes us in on ourselves.

“There is likewise the danger of being attracted to an easy, effortless and comfortable ‘faith’ that does not call anything into question,” he added.

Another kind of boundary that must be overcome, said the Pope, relates to a “soulless rationalism” that reduces everything to what is material and visible.

“In this way,” he added, “we lose our sense of wonder, our ability to marvel, which urges us to look beyond, to raise our eyes heavenwards, to discover that hidden truth, which responds to 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 “widen our borders,” citing a Biblical story from the Book of Chronicles about a man named Jabez (1 Chron 4:10).

Our knowledge of our limitations, he said, drives us forward and invites us to “remain an open windown onto today’s world.”

Pope Francis also praised the Catholic University of Leuven for welcoming refugees in their search for a better home and truth.

“What we need is a culture that expands boundaries, 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 boundaries!” he said. “Be restless seekers of truth, and do not allow your enthusiasm to wane lest you yield to intellectual lethargy.”