A document from the Pope is coming to reflect on the challenges of education. And to relaunch the Global Educational Pact, “an initiative of Pope Francis which has acquired extraordinary resonance in many regions of the world”. Cardinal Jose’ Tolentino de Mendonca, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, presenting the Jubilee of the Educational World which will be celebrated from 27 October to 1 November and which will bring together over twenty thousand people including students, teachers and administrative staff representing Catholic educational communities from all over the world, involved in schools and universities, in technical and professional training, announced that Leo XIV will publish the next 28 October a pastoral letter in which the Pontiff underlines that «The Declaration Gravissimum educationis has not lost its bite. From its reception a firmament of works and charisms was born; a spiritual and pedagogical heritage capable of spanning the 21st century and responding to the most pressing challenges. This heritage is not fixed: it is a compass that continues to indicate the direction. The expectations today are no less than the many with which the Church had to deal sixty years ago. Indeed they have expanded and become more complex… history challenges us with new urgency. Rapid and profound changes expose children, adolescents and young people to unprecedented fragilities. It is not enough to conserve: we need to relaunch. I ask all educational institutions to inaugurate a season that speaks to the hearts of the new generations, recomposing knowledge and meaning, competence and responsibility, faith and life.”
From artificial intelligence to education, the environment and hospitality, there are many issues that urgently need to be reflected on. And, “in a time of strong contrasts and of Artificial Intelligence, with its accelerations and the risk of a drift towards dehumanization, Gravissimum Educationis reminds us that education is an act of hope because it invites co-participation and the transformation of ways of thinking and living, helps to respond to the emergencies and challenges of the contemporary world, and is a way to humanize the world and history”, underlined the cardinal Tolentino. Adding that education «is a path of purification of the heart which, as Pope Leo XIV teaches, “we must learn to know” to be truly authentic. In this way, we will be able to develop a natural antidote to individualism and promote a culture of dialogue, peace and non-violence.”
During the press conference, the rector of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Elena Beccalli, recalled that «in the world, 61 million children have never entered a classroom; children, that is, without any access to education, of which approximately 67% (equal to 41 million) are found in Africa, 25% in Asia (16 million), 3.5% in Central/South America, 1.8% in Europe and North America”. Furthermore, there are “160 million young people who do not reach the end of secondary school, a number that highlights how early school leaving still represents a social plague at a global level”.
For this reason it is necessary to “guarantee the universal right to education, which is still not fully guaranteed today” through joint action. Citing UNESCO data, he underlined that to guarantee equal access to education in low- and middle-income countries, “97 billion dollars per year are needed until 2030. A negligible figure compared to the expenditure on armaments in 2024 alone.” In fact, it represents “just 3.5 percent of what was spent on weapons in 2024”. On 27 October the Pope will meet over 6 thousand young people from the pontifical universities and on the 31st with educators.
