Fostering critical thinking at Catholic universities can counter ‘false teachers,’ pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pursuing a higher education that values human intelligence can help counter the many “false teachers” exploiting people’s deep yearning for truth, faith and meaning, Pope Leo XIV said.

Reason, memory and critical thinking are “fundamental for both faith and mission,” the pope told students from the pontifical universities of Rome during an evening Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 8.

“Reason, posing questions in light of God’s word and the Church’s Tradition, is an essential part of the journey of faith in following Jesus Christ,” he said.

The pontifical universities and institutes in Rome enroll more than 15,000 students from some 125 nations; they study theology and philosophy, but also liturgy, sacred music, communications, canon law, archaeology and other subjects.

In his homily, Pope Leo reflected on the day’s first reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (3:1-5), which assures the Gentiles that faith in Christ is what matters and opposes claims that circumcision and observance of the law are needed to bring the promised gift of God’s Spirit and righteousness.

That portion of St. Paul’s letter is “an appeal to reason, memory and critical thinking,” Pope Leo said, because “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, which is Christ and his Gospel.”

The pope told the students to “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.”

Encountering Christ “brings joy and enthusiasm,” the pope said. “It is never a matter of being ‘bewitched’ or ‘enchanted.'”

Because human intelligence and reason play such a fundamental role in faith, the Catholic Church “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,” he said.

“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,” Pope Leo said.

“Routine, ambitions, rivalries and other negative factors can, over time, divert our attention and energy, leaving us exhausted and listless, quarrelsome and sad,” the pope said. “We must therefore return to the heart” so that “every stage of life and every responsibility may be lived ‘with the Spirit.'”

He urged students to use their time at university to forge new friendships, especially with people from other countries.

“Listen to the longing of God,” he said, and “bring it into scientific research. Let us share what nourishes us. There are many who do not have the same educational opportunities that we have received.”

“Remain rooted in the people of God, value its ‘sensus fidei,’ and be open to its questions,” he told them, and “do not forget the poor.”

“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.”

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