Pope: “Many students are experiencing existential distress”

“How many students are also experiencing existential distress!” Pope Leo XIV emphasised this this morning whilst receiving at the Vatican the participants in the International Congress on School and University Pastoral Care, which is currently taking place in Rome. Among the reasons for this distress, the Pope cited “broken families, digital loneliness, feelings of inadequacy or fear in the face of a future that seems uncertain”.

“‘Many walk the corridors of our schools and universities and perhaps feel anonymous,’ he continued, describing it as ‘important’ that schools and universities ‘are, first and foremost, a “home”, a familiar place where one is welcomed’.
“In a welcoming environment, students can express their deep desire to understand and to make sense of reality. This touches upon the very vocation of schools and universities: the shared search for truth”, Pope Prevost added.
Hence the encouragement to teachers and academic institutions “to stimulate young people’s intellect and to value their questions. “May your passion – especially for those of you working in Catholic institutions – be to enable young people to experience the beauty of an encounter with Christ, and the fruitfulness of the synergy between faith and reason, between the knowledge of the faith and other forms of knowledge,” the Pope concluded.