The apostolic constitution “Sapientia Christiana,” from its first expressions, shows the urgency, still present, to overcome the existing breach between faith and culture, inviting to a greater commitment of evangelization, in the firm conviction that Christian revelation is a transforming force, destined to permeate ways of thinking, criteria of judgment, and norms of behavior. It is able to illumine, purify and renew the customs of men and their cultures (cfr Proemio, I), and must constitute the central point of teaching and research, in addition to the horizon that illumines nature and the objects of every ecclesiastical faculty.
From this perspective, while underlining the duty of the cultivators of the sacred disciplines to attain, with theological research, a more profound knowledge of the truth revealed, encouraged at the same time are contacts with the other fields of learning for a fruitful dialogue, above all for the purpose of offering a precious contribution to the mission that the Church is called to carry out in the world.
After 30 years, the basic lines of the apostolic constitution “Sapientia Christiana” still keep all their current importance. What is more, in today’s society, where knowledge is increasingly specialized and sectorial, but which is increasingly marked by relativism, it is even more necessary to be open to the wisdom that comes from the Gospel. Man, in fact, is incapable of understanding himself fully and the world without Jesus Christ: Only he illumines his true dignity, his vocation, his ultimate destiny and opens the heart to a solid and lasting hope.
Good speech. There are lots of Catholic Universities around the world, many of them outstanding schools. But unfortunately there are very few distinctively Anglican ones. Oxford and Cambridge used to be specifically Anglican, of course, but they ceased to be such over a century ago. The pope, as a former university professor, well understands the importance of a distinctively Catholic education.
I think one of the most exciting Catholic schools to watch is the relatively new Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv, near the Polish border. It certainly seems to have quickly become one of the leading universities in all of Eastern Europe.
David Handy+