Santiago, Chile, Jan 17, 2018 / 03:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking to Chilean university students and academics Wednesday, Pope Francis said Catholic educational institutions play a prophetic role in helping future generations tackle problems with an integrated, inclusive approach.
“In our day, the mission entrusted to you is prophetic,” the Pope said Jan. 17 to a crowd of some 2,400 students and academics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. “You are challenged to generate processes that enlighten contemporary culture by proposing a renewed humanism that eschews every form of reductionism.”
This prophetic role on the part of Catholic universities is a key motive in seeking out “ever new spaces for dialogue rather than confrontation,” he said.
These spaces, he added, must be occasions “of encounter rather than division, paths of friendly disagreement that allow for respectful differences between persons joined in a sincere effort to advance as a community towards a renewed national coexistence.”
The meeting marks the last event for the day, and is part of his Jan. 15-18 visit to Chile, after which he will visit Peru Jan. 18-21.
In his speech, the Pope said Chilean Saint Alberto Hurtado, SJ, who studied at the university, is a prime example of how “intelligence, academic excellence and professionalism, when joined to faith, justice and charity, far from weakening, attain a prophetic power capable of opening horizons and pointing the way, especially for those on the margins of society.”
He then noted how the rector of the university, Dr Ignacio Sánchez, had said there are “important challenges” in Chile which deal with “peaceful coexistence as a nation and the ability to progress as a community.”
On the topic of peaceful coexistence as a nation, Pope Francis said even speaking of challenges is a sign that certain situations “need to be rethought.”
“The accelerated pace and a sense of disorientation before new processes and changes in our societies call for a serene but urgent reflection that is neither naïve nor utopian, much less arbitrary,” he said.
Peace as a nation is possible to the extent that educational processes are transformative, inclusive, and favor coexistence, the Pope maintained.
This doesn’t mean simply attaching values to educational work, but rather implies means “establishing a dynamic of coexistence internal to the very system of education itself. It is not so much a question of content but of teaching how to think and reason in an integrated way.”
For this “mental formation” to happen, Francis said an “integrating literacy” is needed which can help students process the rapid changes happening in society.
This literacy, he said, must integrate know how to integrate and harmonize the various “languages” which “constitute us as persons”: the “intellect (the head), affections (the heart) and activity (the hands).”
Following this approach will allow students to grow not only on a personal level, but also at the level of society, he said, which is important since “we urgently need to create spaces where fragmentation is not the guiding principle, even for thinking. To do this, it is necessary to teach how to reflect on what we are feeling and doing; to feel what we are thinking and doing; to do what we are thinking and feeling. An interplay of capacities at the service of the person and society.”
The Pope noted the importance of the unity of knowledge against the fragmentation of fields, saying, “The ‘divorce’ of fields of learning from languages, and illiteracy with regard to integrating the distinct dimensions of life, bring only fragmentation and social breakdown.”
He noted that in our “liquid” society, borrowing a phrase from the late Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, “those points of reference that people use to build themselves individually and socially are disappearing.”
“It seems that the new meeting place of today is the ‘cloud’, which is characterized by instability since everything evaporates and thus loses consistency,” he said.
The Pope said that “This lack of consistency may be one of the reasons for the loss of a consciousness of the importance of public life, which requires a minimum ability to transcend private interests (living longer and better) in order to build upon foundations that reveal that crucial dimension of our life which is ‘us’.”
“Without that consciousness, but especially without that feeling and consequently without that experience, it is very difficult to build the nation. As a result, the only thing that appears to be important and valid is what pertains to the individual, and all else becomes irrelevant. A culture of this sort has lost its memory, lost the bonds that support it and make its life possible,” he said.
“Without the ‘us’ of a people, of a family and of a nation, but also the ‘us’ of the future, of our children and of tomorrow, without the ‘us’ of a city that transcends ‘me’ and is richer than individual interests, life will be not only increasingly fragmented, but also more conflictual and violent.”
“The university, in this context, is challenged to generate within its own precincts new processes that can overcome every fragmentation of knowledge and stimulate a true universitas.”
On progressing as a community, the Pope pointed to the university’s chaplaincy program, which he said is a sign of “a young, lively Church that ‘goes forth’.”
This same mentality has to be present in universities, he said, noting that classic forms of research are now “experiencing certain limits,” which means modern-day culture requires new forms that are more inclusive “of all those who make up social and hence educational realities.”
A great challenge for the university’s community, then, “is to not isolate itself from modes of knowledge, or, for that matter, to develop a body of knowledge with minimal concern about those for whom it is intended.”
Rather, “it is vital that the acquisition of knowledge lead to an interplay between the university classroom and the wisdom of the peoples who make up this richly blessed land,” Francis said, adding that education has to extend beyond the classroom and to “be continually challenged to participation.”
Francis then pointed to the need for an education that emphasizes both quality and integration, saying the service that universities offer must always aim for excellence when it comes to national coexistence.
“In this way, we could say that the university becomes a laboratory for the future of the country, insofar as it succeeds in embodying the life and progress of the people, and can overcome every antagonistic and elitist approach to learning.”
The Pope warned against a kind of knowledge that seeks to subject nature to its own “designs and desires,” citing a warning against this from the 20th century kabbalist Gershom Scholem. He said that “to reduce creation to certain interpretative models that deprive it of the very Mystery that has moved whole generations to seek what is just, good, beautiful and true” will “will always be a subtle temptation in every academic setting.”
“Whenever a ‘professor’, by virtue of his wisdom, becomes a ‘teacher’, he is then capable of awakening wonderment in our students,” Pope Francis said. “Wonderment at the world and at an entire universe waiting to be discovered!”
The mission entrusted to the university, then, is prophetic, he said, and closed his speech asking the Holy Spirit to guide the steps of everyone present, so that the university is able continue “to bear fruit for the good of the Chilean people and for the glory of God.”
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Hmmm. https://roddreher.substack.com/p/mexico-rebarbarizes?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=136360&post_id=158730057&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=p4r48&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
When you go to Mexico you see this ceremony performed on tourists in public squares. It’s not considered something sinister nor related to human sacrifice.
The president of Mexico is not a Catholic. Catholics should know better than to associate with non Christian rituals but in Latin America there’s a hazy line between those things.
I’d rather see more concern about organized crime, violence, and the increase of feticides in Mexico.
One problem in Mexico is that the country has made it official an exaltation of the Indigenous People past. But look at what this scholarly article tells us about the Indigenous People in Central America and the Americas in general:
https://www.thepostil.com/author/dario-fernandez-morera/
The demons of the Aztecs are back and this is their fruits! Stand by Christ and His Mother!
The cult of Santa Muerte (Our Lady of Holy Death) is quite popular within the criminal element in Mexico. Santa Muerte is also revered and seen as a saint and protector of the LGBTQ communities in Mexico. This cult has made inroads into the US. But “Diversity is our strength” – right?
Yes, Santa Muerte is really disturbing & as you say, it’s not unique to Mexico. I’ve seen SM candles for sale in several grocery stores & a otherwise respectable looking mother driving a nice SUV with a Santa Muerte decal on the rear window.
Question to all: Do you have evidence that Mexico is a Christian nation?
I have evidence that there are numerous Mexican Christians in the same ways there are numerous US Christians.
So, mrscracker, same question: “Do you consider the US to be a Christian nation at present? Thanks for your considered reply.
I guess my reply would be similar. There are many sincere Christian people in the US. Our nation didn’t begin in the same way Mexico did through the Spanish but I think we were certainly founded from a Judeo Christian world view.
mrscracker: But our country was founded 250 years ago. That doesn’t tell us whether the USA could be considered a Christian country in 2025. Are you saying that you think we are? Does it matter whether or not we are a Christian country?
Absolutely true. By attacking us, her children, they attack the Blessed Mother as our Lady of Guadalupe, since it was she who claimed the Americas for her Son.
Prayers and supplications to our Lady of Guadalupe are powerful in helping all the peoples of the Americas.
Amen.
In Guatemala where I used to lead medical missions, there was a cult practice that was intermingled with the local Catholic faith. The idol’s name was Machemon. Here is how Wikipedia describes the practice:
“Maximón is venerated in the form of an effigy or cult image. Worship varies greatly by location. In Santiago Atitlán, Maximón’s effigy resides in a different household every year. His image is normally only taken out of this house during Holy Week, whereafter it will change households, but is on display year-round due to the popularity of pilgrimages. The effigy has special attendants that stay by the altar year-round, drinking and smoking alongside it. They deliver offerings from the public to the image. Popular offerings include money, tobacco, and moonshine.
In the town of San Andrés Itzapa, there is a large temple to Maximón. Here, offerings such as corn, flowers, and candles are burned in public by shamans for the deity. Pilgrims travel to this temple from all across Latin America.
Guatemalan press has claimed that the worship of Maximón has declined in recent decades, but this is difficult to measure with much certainty”.
I’m certain that some in our current Vatican would approve of this practice of mixing the Catholic faith with other local cultural expressions.
This is all so interesting. I’m new to El Paso TX and my naivety about what I thought it would be like was so far off base I don’t know what to do with my feelings about; screaming in my head isn’t working and I trying to learn to leave it at the foot of the cross, to no avail. I’m not sure why but I idealized the notion of El Paso and New Mexico being a bastion of Catholicism being back stopped by Our Lady of Guadalupe. Instead I found that Satan still reigns; he passed the torch to Margaret Sanger who left her demonic mark on El Paso and New Mexico, which have become voracious purveyors of endorsing and action the slaughtering of the innocents; their target – the family, the cultures and the lives of the next generations. In my humble opinion – I can feel the demonic presence in this area, which is 100% on board with Margaret Sangers goal of destruction of the undesirables in the form of the local cultures, both Mexican /Hispanic and native populations that exist here – they even have cartoonish billboards right across the state line in New Mexico enticing young women and girls from those cultures toward abortion. The local populace en masse seems immune to, and supportive of the killing fields that exist, with few exceptions compared to the population. While Texas is a no abortion strong hold; El Paso County and City elected leaders have openly voted to stand in solidarity with Planned Parenthood as a matter of civic vote, with and without public comment. Elected National representatives are also voracious in their thirst for blood through abortion endorsement, tied the second place issue of maintaining unfettered migration across our southern border. I can’t even begin to expound on the demonic level of support for the mass slaughter that is championed with fanatical “religious” fervor by New Mexico elected officials from the state reps down through the Governor and local officials. It is chilling. As a pro-life supporter and active participant in prolife events in El Paso and New Mexico, the level of evil that hangs in the air is palpable as a stand for life is taken in this area. I’d say it’s not “the people” of El Paso or New Mexico who facilitate this, and have to pinch myself and hold back throwing the BS card on that, when our Lady of Guadalupe is revered yet abortion reigns here through public vote for elected officials whose stated platform objectives are to support and raise abortion and opportunities for the same to a frenetic level. Both can’t legitimately co-exist, and Our Lady seems to be a show piece of days gone by, certainly not by all, but obviously a majority given the voting outcomes, where abortion is the actionable item, second only to unfettered streams of broken humanity across an open border. Second only to abortion is support to unfettered open borders and the cash cow that facilitates, as well as setting the ground work to fundamentally change the electorate and the country. Arguing to the contrary is pointless given the feckless approach to the problem, and the horrendous outcomes leading to servitude and being beholden to a party only focused on power, not true benevolence toward rhe “invited” guests. Generally, the elected politicos and the masses in many cases, demonize those standing for the rule of law and managed immigration, amplified by the Diocese of El Paso’s clear focus on sustaining the migrant flow we’ve experienced while throwing the anti-abortion components of Family Life Ministry scraps from the bone of support, in my observational based opinion. The unfettered migration we’ve experienced is not only inhumane but undignified in itself; despite local civic and religious leaders calling the cessation of that unchecked migration, inhumane and undignified, the lack of moral standing of the argument and the subjugation of the issue that has a clear moral component to a second class issue. If there is unchecked abortion, the immigration issue becomes moot. There would be much less of a problem if the government had not circumvented law and the will of the people. The indignation by the local community leaders, faux outrage by local national representatives and the tale of woe from the Diocese is sad and appears farcical. Migrants streamed into the country with little to no pastoral care, in some cases based on status were fed and clothed as Christ commended by local pastors, but were fed into the mill of voter cultivation and loads of “free chicken” once onward moved into the corners of the country. There was little capacity enroute or while in this city to provided pastoral care, the Sacraments or nurture faith, which was likely lost or challenged when our goverment enticed people to walk across the southern portion of the continent to become unwhiting prey to one political party who offered overcrowding, inhumane conditions, facilitated human trafficking, extortion, rape, molestation, indentured servitude, and a host of other undignified outcomes intentionally or unintentionally; it doesn’t matter – it’s reality and a consequence of their action. I know this from good authority. We also hear about it from honest journalism and media, AND federal agencies trying to manage the nightmare our government created will attest to it, while being immediately vilified. We are at a major cross roads in Mexico and the US; none of it will lead to good; all of it leading away from Mother Mary and Her Son, to increased literal tribalism, rejection of the one true God, rejection of His mother and eventually, I believe, war over pat grievances, perceived utopia existing in the green grass across the road, etc. I pray that is not the case. I lament it will likely be so. God bless Mexico and the US and help us get focused on His will, and that His will be done; not the Devil and his demonic forces which have a strong hold on both countries, overtly and covertly.