Pope Leo XIV urged students and faculty at Rome's pontifical universities to "guard your hearts" and warned against reducing intellectual activity to the collection of data during a Mass Thursday marking the opening of the academic year.
Celebrating the Eucharist in St. Peter's Basilica, the pope emphasized the mission of pontifical universities, the importance of critical thinking in the life of faith, and the need to connect academic study with the experiences of ordinary people, especially the poor.
Reflecting on St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians, Leo said that intellectual inquiry is essential to both faith and mission.
The apostle's words, he explained, are "an appeal to reason, memory, and critical thinking."
"In every age, there is no shortage of false teachers who exploit the religious sentiments of many believers for their own interests, often pushing them to radicalize certain aspects of the teaching they have received at the expense of the whole — the whole, which is Christ and his Gospel," the pope warned.
He encouraged students and professors to regard their academic work as a service to the Church and to the search for truth.
"Dear friends, consider study as a service to faith and truth: for your own good and for the good of so many brothers and sisters for whom the Lord gave his life," he said.
Reason and the willingness to ask questions, guided by Scripture and Church tradition, are indispensable to Christian faith, Leo continued.
The Church, he said, has "both the desire and the responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the treasure of revelation and to develop, within diverse contexts, a prayerful understanding of it, scholarly reflection, cultural mediation, and practical application."
The pope also addressed the relationship between human intelligence and technology, drawing a distinction between the accumulation of information and the deeper understanding that comes from personal experience.
"The mind must not simply compile data — as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can — but recall lived experiences, which contain depths of meaning that only the human soul can recognize, and connect more deeply with the goodness of these experiences," he said.
Academic routines, ambition, and rivalries can distract people from the spiritual foundations of their work, leaving them exhausted, divided, and unhappy, Leo cautioned.
"We must therefore return to the heart. That is where it all began; the beginning to which we can always return," he said.
"Dearest friends, guard your hearts. Whether you are students, researchers, or teachers, guard your hearts, so that every stage of life and every responsibility may be lived 'with the Spirit.'"
The pope also emphasized the importance of friendships formed during university studies, particularly those grounded in a common search for truth in Christ.
He urged the academic community to remain connected to the wider Church and attentive to the concerns of ordinary believers.
"Remain rooted in the people of God, value its 'sensus fidei,' and be open to its questions. And do not forget the poor, who are sometimes that persistent friend who comes knocking during the night," he said.
The relationship between scholarship and everyday life, Leo explained, is fundamental to the Christian understanding of the Incarnation.
"Bring life into your studies and your studies into life, following the logic of the Incarnation, apart from which revelation falls silent," he said.
"Indeed, the further we stray from the complete reality that the Son of God took on and lived with infinite love, the less we will have to say and the fewer opportunities we will have to understand."
The pope reminded his listeners that many people lack the educational opportunities available to students at Rome's pontifical universities.
"Let us open the door; let us not shut ourselves off," he said.
Referring to his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Leo called for cooperation in building a society in which God can dwell with humanity in peace.
He noted that the fragmentation of knowledge and the impact of new technologies on the human mind present challenges requiring careful reflection.
Quoting the encyclical, he said that "a genuinely healthy attitude is needed, requiring rhythms that incorporate silence, in-depth study, reading, and judicious analysis, for without these elements inner freedom may be compromised."
Theology, he added, has an important contribution to make in addressing those challenges and bringing different fields of knowledge into dialogue.
Rome's ecclesiastical institutions have a particular responsibility in this regard because of their service to the universal Church and their role as meeting places for students and scholars from different cultures and traditions.
The pope concluded by encouraging students to take full advantage of the international character of the pontifical universities and to form lasting relationships across cultural and geographic boundaries.
"Look around you at university: The world is seated in your classrooms. Studying alongside you are people from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania," he said.
"Do not limit yourselves to simply sitting next to one another: Get to know one another, talk to one another, listen to one another, share your experiences of the Church, pray together, share moments of leisure, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime."
Leo ended his homily by entrusting the new academic year to the intercession of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, and invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
