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Pope Leo XIV: Universities must seek truth and form the whole person #Catholic MALABO, Equatorial Guinea — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday said the inauguration of a new university campus in Equatorial Guinea is “an act of trust in human beings,” praising investment in the education of young people during the final stop of his Africa trip.Speaking at the opening of the Pope Leo XIV University Campus in Basupú, part of the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE), the pontiff said the new institution represents more than new buildings.“This inauguration is an act of trust in human beings, an affirmation of the fact that it is worth the effort to continue wagering on the formation of new generations and on the task, so demanding and yet so noble, of seeking the truth and putting knowledge at the service of the common good,” Leo said.The new campus, in the northern part of Bioko Island, is the country’s largest academic facility. The government chose to dedicate it to the pope in conjunction with his visit. Founded in 1995, the National University of Equatorial Guinea was established to help form national leaders and align academic and professional training with the country’s development needs.Leo was welcomed by Rector Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema Nchama and the archbishop of Malabo, Archbishop Juan Nsue Edjang May. A bust of the pope was unveiled before he met with students and professors gathered in the square outside the main entrance.Students appealed to the pope for encouragement in becoming “a generation characterized by discipline, respect, responsibility, and commitment to the common good,” one aimed not only at personal success but also at contributing to the development of Equatorial Guinea.Faculty members, for their part, pledged themselves to academic excellence, innovation, and the integral formation of students. University officials also stressed that science and technology are powerful tools whose value depends on how they are used and that Christian moral tradition offers essential guidance in that task.In his address, Leo turned to an image deeply resonant in Equatorial Guinea: the ceiba, the country’s national tree.“For the people of Equatorial Guinea, the ceiba, the national tree, has a great symbolic meaning,” he said. “A tree puts forth deep roots and ascends slowly with patience and strength to the heights, embodying in itself a fruitfulness that does not exist for itself.”The pope said the tree offers “a parable of that which a university is called to be”: an institution rooted in serious study, living memory, and the persevering search for truth.Leo then drew on biblical imagery to reflect on the relationship between faith, reason, and knowledge. Referring to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis, he said the biblical account is not a rejection of human intelligence.“It should be emphasized that this story is not about a condemnation of knowledge as such, as if faith was afraid of intelligence or looked with suspicion upon the desire for knowledge,” he said.Instead, he warned against knowledge detached from truth and goodness and reduced to self-interest or domination.“The problem, therefore, does not rest with knowledge but in its deviation towards an intelligence that no longer seeks to correspond to reality but rather to twist it for its own purposes,” he said.Leo said Christian tradition points to another tree — the cross — as the redemption, not the negation, of human intelligence.“Christian tradition contemplates another tree, that of the cross, not as a denial of human intelligence but as a sign of its redemption,” he said.“At the cross, human beings are invited to allow their desire for knowledge to be healed: to rediscover that truth is not fabricated, not manipulated nor possessed like a trophy but welcomed, sought with humility, and served with responsibility.”For that reason, he said, Christ is not an escape from intellectual effort.“From a Christian perspective, Christ does not appear as a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors, as if faith began where reason ended,” Leo said. “On the contrary, in him the profound harmony between truth, reason, and freedom are manifested.”The pope said the Church’s concern in education is that young people be formed integrally, “rather than giving the mere appearance of success.”He added that the university should be judged less by its size or number of graduates than by the quality of the people it forms for society.“Here on this campus, the ceiba of Equatorial Guinea is called to bear fruits of progress rooted in solidarity and of a knowledge that ennobles and develops the human being in an integral way,” he said. “It is called to offer the fruits of intelligence and uprightness, of competence and wisdom, of excellence and service.”“If generations of men and women are profoundly shaped in this place by truth and are capable of transforming their own existence into a gift for others, then the ceiba will remain an eloquent symbol rooted in the best things of this land, elevated by wisdom and abounding in fruits that pay tribute to Equatorial Guinea and enrich the entire human family.”Before the university event, the pope also made a brief visit to St. Elizabeth of Hungary Cathedral in Malabo, built in 1897.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.
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Pope Leo XIV: Universities must seek truth and form the whole person #Catholic MALABO, Equatorial Guinea — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday said the inauguration of a new university campus in Equatorial Guinea is “an act of trust in human beings,” praising investment in the education of young people during the final stop of his Africa trip.Speaking at the opening of the Pope Leo XIV University Campus in Basupú, part of the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE), the pontiff said the new institution represents more than new buildings.“This inauguration is an act of trust in human beings, an affirmation of the fact that it is worth the effort to continue wagering on the formation of new generations and on the task, so demanding and yet so noble, of seeking the truth and putting knowledge at the service of the common good,” Leo said.The new campus, in the northern part of Bioko Island, is the country’s largest academic facility. The government chose to dedicate it to the pope in conjunction with his visit. Founded in 1995, the National University of Equatorial Guinea was established to help form national leaders and align academic and professional training with the country’s development needs.Leo was welcomed by Rector Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema Nchama and the archbishop of Malabo, Archbishop Juan Nsue Edjang May. A bust of the pope was unveiled before he met with students and professors gathered in the square outside the main entrance.Students appealed to the pope for encouragement in becoming “a generation characterized by discipline, respect, responsibility, and commitment to the common good,” one aimed not only at personal success but also at contributing to the development of Equatorial Guinea.Faculty members, for their part, pledged themselves to academic excellence, innovation, and the integral formation of students. University officials also stressed that science and technology are powerful tools whose value depends on how they are used and that Christian moral tradition offers essential guidance in that task.In his address, Leo turned to an image deeply resonant in Equatorial Guinea: the ceiba, the country’s national tree.“For the people of Equatorial Guinea, the ceiba, the national tree, has a great symbolic meaning,” he said. “A tree puts forth deep roots and ascends slowly with patience and strength to the heights, embodying in itself a fruitfulness that does not exist for itself.”The pope said the tree offers “a parable of that which a university is called to be”: an institution rooted in serious study, living memory, and the persevering search for truth.Leo then drew on biblical imagery to reflect on the relationship between faith, reason, and knowledge. Referring to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis, he said the biblical account is not a rejection of human intelligence.“It should be emphasized that this story is not about a condemnation of knowledge as such, as if faith was afraid of intelligence or looked with suspicion upon the desire for knowledge,” he said.Instead, he warned against knowledge detached from truth and goodness and reduced to self-interest or domination.“The problem, therefore, does not rest with knowledge but in its deviation towards an intelligence that no longer seeks to correspond to reality but rather to twist it for its own purposes,” he said.Leo said Christian tradition points to another tree — the cross — as the redemption, not the negation, of human intelligence.“Christian tradition contemplates another tree, that of the cross, not as a denial of human intelligence but as a sign of its redemption,” he said.“At the cross, human beings are invited to allow their desire for knowledge to be healed: to rediscover that truth is not fabricated, not manipulated nor possessed like a trophy but welcomed, sought with humility, and served with responsibility.”For that reason, he said, Christ is not an escape from intellectual effort.“From a Christian perspective, Christ does not appear as a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors, as if faith began where reason ended,” Leo said. “On the contrary, in him the profound harmony between truth, reason, and freedom are manifested.”The pope said the Church’s concern in education is that young people be formed integrally, “rather than giving the mere appearance of success.”He added that the university should be judged less by its size or number of graduates than by the quality of the people it forms for society.“Here on this campus, the ceiba of Equatorial Guinea is called to bear fruits of progress rooted in solidarity and of a knowledge that ennobles and develops the human being in an integral way,” he said. “It is called to offer the fruits of intelligence and uprightness, of competence and wisdom, of excellence and service.”“If generations of men and women are profoundly shaped in this place by truth and are capable of transforming their own existence into a gift for others, then the ceiba will remain an eloquent symbol rooted in the best things of this land, elevated by wisdom and abounding in fruits that pay tribute to Equatorial Guinea and enrich the entire human family.”Before the university event, the pope also made a brief visit to St. Elizabeth of Hungary Cathedral in Malabo, built in 1897.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.

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At the inauguration of a new campus named in his honor in Equatorial Guinea, the pope urged the education of young people in truth, responsibility, and service to the common good.

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California grandmother aims for 10,000 signatures on petition against second-trimester abortions #Catholic Mary Waldorf didn’t know anything about organizing petitions, but when a hospital worker and fellow parishioner told her that staff were forced to participate in second-trimester abortions, she felt called to do something.Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California, about 80 miles north of Sacramento, is the primary hospital in the area.“It’s the only hospital in a huge county. We all have to use it,” Waldorf told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.”Waldorf still remembers how she felt the day she found out about the abortions being performed there.“I spent the rest of the day just bawling because I know what a second-trimester abortion is,” she said.“Everybody was shocked,” she added.Waldorf went with a small group to peacefully protest in front of the hospital, holding signs. Hospital staff approached, asking why they were there.“They didn’t even know” about the later-term abortions being performed at the facility, Waldorf said.Waldorf claimed that local media will not cover the controversy. She said she has sent several letters to the editor of local papers but described the situation as a “media blackout.”A pediatrician at the hospital told her the hospital administration might reconsider if there was enough concern. “Why she told me, God only knows,” Waldorf said. “But I thought, well, if that’s the case, then what if we do a petition?”“I’m just somebody who goes to church, has grandkids, goes to work — I don’t know how to do [a petition],” she told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.” “I am not a media [figure]. But when God gives you an opportunity, you got to go for it.”The petition had about 800 signatures as of March 27. Waldorf is aiming for 10,000 — 10% of the size of the town.Waldorf said staff members have told her that the hospital allegedly has refused to allow some medical workers to opt out of assisting with abortion procedures.“They were told that the pre-op and the post-op nurses and personnel could not opt out,” Waldorf said.Waldorf runs a local chapter of 40 Days for Life, a nationwide effort aimed at praying for women seeking abortions and for their children, usually in front of abortion clinics during Lent. She says she wants women to have “true choice.”“If the mindset of people is about death, they don’t consider the child — and you have to consider both,” Waldorf said. “They’re not counseling these women. What about giving them true choice?”“The dignity of the human person is so paramount,” Waldorf added. “And I think that that is what’s being lost here completely.”
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California grandmother aims for 10,000 signatures on petition against second-trimester abortions #Catholic Mary Waldorf didn’t know anything about organizing petitions, but when a hospital worker and fellow parishioner told her that staff were forced to participate in second-trimester abortions, she felt called to do something.Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California, about 80 miles north of Sacramento, is the primary hospital in the area.“It’s the only hospital in a huge county. We all have to use it,” Waldorf told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.”Waldorf still remembers how she felt the day she found out about the abortions being performed there.“I spent the rest of the day just bawling because I know what a second-trimester abortion is,” she said.“Everybody was shocked,” she added.Waldorf went with a small group to peacefully protest in front of the hospital, holding signs. Hospital staff approached, asking why they were there.“They didn’t even know” about the later-term abortions being performed at the facility, Waldorf said.Waldorf claimed that local media will not cover the controversy. She said she has sent several letters to the editor of local papers but described the situation as a “media blackout.”A pediatrician at the hospital told her the hospital administration might reconsider if there was enough concern. “Why she told me, God only knows,” Waldorf said. “But I thought, well, if that’s the case, then what if we do a petition?”“I’m just somebody who goes to church, has grandkids, goes to work — I don’t know how to do [a petition],” she told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.” “I am not a media [figure]. But when God gives you an opportunity, you got to go for it.”The petition had about 800 signatures as of March 27. Waldorf is aiming for 10,000 — 10% of the size of the town.Waldorf said staff members have told her that the hospital allegedly has refused to allow some medical workers to opt out of assisting with abortion procedures.“They were told that the pre-op and the post-op nurses and personnel could not opt out,” Waldorf said.Waldorf runs a local chapter of 40 Days for Life, a nationwide effort aimed at praying for women seeking abortions and for their children, usually in front of abortion clinics during Lent. She says she wants women to have “true choice.”“If the mindset of people is about death, they don’t consider the child — and you have to consider both,” Waldorf said. “They’re not counseling these women. What about giving them true choice?”“The dignity of the human person is so paramount,” Waldorf added. “And I think that that is what’s being lost here completely.”

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Mary Waldorf is rallying her town to petition against second-trimester abortions offered by Enloe Medical Center.

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Pope decries war’s toll #Catholic Pope Leo XIV on Sunday voiced dismay over ongoing conflicts around the world, saying the suffering of innocent victims “hurts all of humanity” and urging an end to hostilities grounded in dialogue and respect for human dignity.“We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many defenseless people who are victims of these conflicts. What hurts them hurts all of humanity,” the pope said after praying the Angelus on March 22.“The death and pain caused by these wars is a scandal for the entire human family and a cry that rises to God,” he continued. “I strongly renew my appeal to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and paths to peace may finally open up, based on sincere dialogue and respect for the dignity of every human person.”Earlier, in his reflection before the Angelus, the pope focused on the Gospel account of the raising of Lazarus, describing it as a sign of Christ’s victory over death and the promise of eternal life received through baptism.“The account of the resurrection of Lazarus, then, invites us to listen to this profound need and, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to free our hearts from habits, conditioning, and ways of thinking which, like boulders, shut us away in the tomb of selfishness, materialism, violence, and superficiality,” he said.“In these places there is no life but only confusion, dissatisfaction, and loneliness.”Quoting Jesus’ command in the Gospel — “Come out!” — the pope said Christ calls believers to emerge from such “cramped spaces,” renewed by his grace, and to “walk in the light of love, as new women and men, capable of hoping and loving, without calculation and without measure, according to the model of his infinite charity.”He also warned that the world seems “to constantly search for novelty and change, even at the cost of sacrificing important things — time, energy, values, affections,” as though “fame, material goods, entertainment, and fleeting relationships could fill our hearts or make us immortal.”“It is a symptom of a longing for the infinite that each of us carries within us, a need that cannot be satisfied by passing things,” he said. “Nothing finite can quench our inner thirst, for we are made for God, and we find no peace until we rest in him.”The pope concluded by entrusting the faithful to the Virgin Mary, praying that the experience of encountering the risen Christ may be renewed in them each day.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.
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Pope decries war’s toll #Catholic Pope Leo XIV on Sunday voiced dismay over ongoing conflicts around the world, saying the suffering of innocent victims “hurts all of humanity” and urging an end to hostilities grounded in dialogue and respect for human dignity.“We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many defenseless people who are victims of these conflicts. What hurts them hurts all of humanity,” the pope said after praying the Angelus on March 22.“The death and pain caused by these wars is a scandal for the entire human family and a cry that rises to God,” he continued. “I strongly renew my appeal to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and paths to peace may finally open up, based on sincere dialogue and respect for the dignity of every human person.”Earlier, in his reflection before the Angelus, the pope focused on the Gospel account of the raising of Lazarus, describing it as a sign of Christ’s victory over death and the promise of eternal life received through baptism.“The account of the resurrection of Lazarus, then, invites us to listen to this profound need and, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to free our hearts from habits, conditioning, and ways of thinking which, like boulders, shut us away in the tomb of selfishness, materialism, violence, and superficiality,” he said.“In these places there is no life but only confusion, dissatisfaction, and loneliness.”Quoting Jesus’ command in the Gospel — “Come out!” — the pope said Christ calls believers to emerge from such “cramped spaces,” renewed by his grace, and to “walk in the light of love, as new women and men, capable of hoping and loving, without calculation and without measure, according to the model of his infinite charity.”He also warned that the world seems “to constantly search for novelty and change, even at the cost of sacrificing important things — time, energy, values, affections,” as though “fame, material goods, entertainment, and fleeting relationships could fill our hearts or make us immortal.”“It is a symptom of a longing for the infinite that each of us carries within us, a need that cannot be satisfied by passing things,” he said. “Nothing finite can quench our inner thirst, for we are made for God, and we find no peace until we rest in him.”The pope concluded by entrusting the faithful to the Virgin Mary, praying that the experience of encountering the risen Christ may be renewed in them each day.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.

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Pope Leo XIV says suffering of innocent victims “hurts all of humanity” as he calls for end to hostilities and renewed paths to peace.

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Picture of the day View of the village of Gyakar surrounded by a poplar grove in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal. The summits of the Damodar Himal, the Purkung Himal and the Annapurnas are visible in the distance. A suspended bridge over the deep canyon (left) connects it to the neighbouring Chele village and thence to the rest of Nepal. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day View of the village of Gyakar surrounded by a poplar grove in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal. The summits of the Damodar Himal, the Purkung Himal and the Annapurnas are visible in the distance. A suspended bridge over the deep canyon (left) connects it to the neighbouring Chele village and thence to the rest of Nepal. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
View of the village of Gyakar surrounded by a poplar grove in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal. The summits of the Damodar Himal, the Purkung Himal and the Annapurnas are visible in the distance. A suspended bridge over the deep canyon (left) connects it to the neighbouring Chele village and thence to the rest of Nepal.
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