Pope Tells of Mission of a Pontifical University

 

Love the Church as Christ Does, He Says at the Gregorian

ROME, NOV. 3, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The mission of a pontifical university is to love the Church as Christ loves it, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today when visiting the Gregorian University, founded over 450 years ago by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The Holy Father was welcomed, among others, by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and grand chancellor of the university, and Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, superior general of the Jesuits and vice grand chancellor of the institution.

The Pontiff first made a Eucharistic visit in the students' chapel, then greeted the community's eight women religious.

Benedict XVI was welcomed by the students with applause and cries of "Long live the Pope!" As not all could be accommodated in the courtyard, many saw and heard him in the classrooms, where large screens had been installed.

Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda and Father Bryan Lobo, representing the student body, were among those who welcomed the Holy Father to the university.

In his address, the Pope described the Gregorian as "one of the greatest services that the Society of Jesus offers the universal Church."

Toward communion

The Pontiff said that as a pontifical university, the institution is committed to act in communion with the Church.

"We must love her as Christ himself loved her, assuming the sufferings of the world and of the Church to complete what is lacking in the passion of Christ," the Bishop of Rome said. "In this way we can form new generations of priests, religious and committed lay people."

During his address, the Pope mentioned that as Father Joseph Ratzinger, he taught a course on the Eucharist at the university in the early 1970s.

The Pontiff also mentioned many visits, as early as the Second Vatican Council, when he was asked to give a lecture or attend a doctoral thesis defense.

The university gave the Holy Father the last edition of the journal Archivium Historiae Pontificiae, which was of special interest to him, and a book on the centenary of the birth of the Canadian philosopher and theologian Father Bernard Lonergan.

After the speeches, the Holy Father met with the Jesuit community in the Matteo Ricci Congress Center, located in the basement of the university, and looked through some institution's publications and archives.

The meeting was attended by members of the diplomatic corps and benefactors of the Gregorian Foundation, whom the Pope thanked for their support of the "prestigious institution."

Music was provided by the choir of the Germanic-Hungarian Pontifical College.

The Gregorian has 3,000 students from 130 countries, 821 dioceses and 84 religious institutes.