Pope Francis: Secular world needs teachers with ‘a big heart’ and high ideals

Pope Francis meets with participants of Italy’s Educational Commitment Movement of Catholic Action (MIEAC) national congress on Oct. 31, 2024, at a private audience held in the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Oct 31, 2024 / 10:55 am (CNA). Pope Francis encouraged members of Italy’s Educational Commitment Movement of Catholic Action (MIEAC) on Thursday to not be afraid to propose high Christian ideals to young people in a secularized society.“Christian education crosses unexplored terrain, marked by anthropological and cultural changes, on which we are still seeking answers in the light of the Word of God,” the Holy Father said to participants of MIEAC’s national congress at a private audience held in the Vatican.MIEAC is an educational project connected to Italy’s Catholic Action that was established in 1990 with the aim of fostering the integral development of young people in all its dimensions: existential, spiritual, affective, cultural, social, and political.During the Thursday audience, the pope praised MIEAC members for their dedication amid the “labyrinths of complexities” affecting human relationships in today’s society and encouraged them to “carry forward an idea and a practice of education that effectively puts the person at the center.”“The educational service that defines your movement brings with it, today perhaps even more than in the past, the challenge of operating on a human and Christian level,” he said. “This is precisely the right perspective in which to continue the journey of your movement. Go forward!”Pope Francis meets with participants of Italy’s Educational Commitment Movement of Catholic Action (MIEAC) national congress on Oct. 31, 2024, at a private audience held in the Vatican. Credit: Vatican MediaLooking to the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, the Holy Father said it is necessary for teachers to sow hope in the world by paying “special attention to children, adolescents, [and] young people.”“We must look at them with trust, with empathy, I would like to say with the gaze and heart of Jesus. They are the present and the future of the world and of the Church,” he shared.“Ours is the task — entirely educational — to accompany them, support them, encourage them and, with testimony, to show them the good path that leads to being ‘fratelli tutti’ [all brothers].”The Holy Father also insisted that the education of children is a task and process that needs the initiative and support of different people from church-related and secular institutions.“It is important not to remain alone but to build and strengthen fruitful relationships with the various subjects of the educational process: families, teachers, social workers, managers and sports trainers, catechists, priests, religious men and women, without neglecting collaboration with public institutions,” the pope said.The pope’s last message to MIEAC members was to “educators with a big heart” to follow the example of their founder, Venerable Giuseppe Lazzati, “a credible teacher and witness, a model of a Christian educator” who was foremost moved by love of God and others.“Through educational processes we express our love for others, for those who are close to us or entrusted to us; and, at the same time, it is essential that education be founded, in its method and its aims, on love. Always educate with love!”