The ways of research

Yesterday 14th December was the closing day, with the Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica and the meeting with the Pope, of the V European Convention of university students, promoted by the Council of the Bishops Conferences of Europe (Ccce) and by the Office for the University Pastoral of the Vicariate of Rome, about “Intellectual love, the way to a new cooperation between Europe and Asia”. Lingering on the Eucharistic Mystery, BENEDICT XVI defined it “the privileged meeting point of the different spheres of Christian life, including that of intellectual research”, and “the inexhaustible source of thought and action”. At the end of Mass, the icon of “Maria Sedes Sapientiae” passed from the university delegation of Bulgaria to that of Albania, to continue the pilgrimage started during the Jubilee of 2000. The convention was attended directly or by videoconference by European students from Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal, and by Asian students from China, India and the Philippines. MAN AT THE CENTRE . “Dialogue and cooperation between European and Asian universities must respect differences” to avoid “tensions between the Western and the Eastern mentality”, stated mgr. MALCOM RANJITH , secretary of the Congregation for the Divine Cult and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who highlighted the importance of “finding a strictly Asian language for the new evangelisation of the continent”. “Asia needs a theology that is consistent with its soul and that is testified by those who proclaim it”. Missionary work finds “firm grounds”, said the delegate of the Holy See, “in the “deep mysticism” and in the “lively inner life” of the Asian people. In this context, “the Catholic universities must encourage faith in Christ, not as a mere adhesion of the mind but as a surrender of the heart and the intellect” to “a faith that is love”. The European universities must therefore “urge the Asian ones to take an interest in the Christian message, while respecting their sensitivity”. But in organising initiatives of inter-religious studies, “they should respect above all those who already believe in Christ in the other continents, not to make their condition harder and more painful”. JOSÉ RAMON BUSTO SAIZ, rector of the Spanish university of Comillas, spoke by videoconference : “University cannot just supply knowledge and technical skills, we are committed to looking for the truth, to provide answers to the questions of the reason”, aware that “knowledge is not ethically neutral. All sciences must address the ultimate meaning of every thing and of life”. In order to train people in intellectual love, concluded Busto Saiz, “university must help them search the truth by placing man and the anthropological issue at the centre” BRIDGES OF LOVE BETWEEN CULTURES. PATRICIA DOMINGUES , student of industrial engineering at the Papal University of Comillas, Spain, was connected by computer link: “One of my engagements of faith, experienced amidst my mates, is the after-school activities for the first-year students. An experience that has helped me grow at an intellectual level and also in acquiring a Christian view of life. And it is an exercise of love, patience and service that teaches me how to take roles of responsibility within society”. MARTA LUEDA studies law in the same university: “Adults think university years are fun. Instead, studying is hard. And there are so many worries about the future. I don’t care about power or money: I want to become a good professional and above all a complete person. I care about affections: loving and being loved”. IANN VAGNEUX , French, studies dogmatic theology in Rome, at the Gregorian University: “University is a big land of mission. Here I experience the service I will be called to carry out soon in Asia as the witness of God’s love to men. At the Gregorian University, East and West have the grace to meet. Often in front of a cup of coffee at the bar, by experiencing intellectual love and universality: it is the universal love that builds bridges between cultures “. A NEW SITE. During the meeting, it was announced that a new website will soon be available: www.university2000.org, as the platform for a forum of university students from all continents, in preparation to praying the Holy Rosary together by satellite link with the Holy Father on 10th March 2007. The event offers an opportunity to give prominence to what had been prophetically envisaged by John Paul II, i.e. that the East and the West are the two wings of the new Europe. In this light, the university students are called to bear witness to the Christian faith in their studies and in university life, searching for the truth and learning to become the builders of peace for a better world.