Pope Leo XIV says "For Christian education, Christ is the compass. Without his light, the educational mission itself becomes meaningless..."

Video message from the Holy Father to participants in the conference "Sin identidad no hay educación", 22.11.2025

We publish below the text of the video message that the Holy Father Leo XIV sent to the participants in the Conference "Sin identidad no hay educación", at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo in Madrid (22 November 2025).

Video message from the Holy Father
Dear educators:

I address you with feelings of profound joy and gratitude. Your daily commitment is anything but easy in the face of the constant transformation of educational processes, made even more difficult by extreme digitalization and cultural fragmentation. I often pause to reflect on how much good you do amidst truly complex circumstances. Your mission in service to the Church is a living leaven not only for new generations but also for the communities that find in it a solid point of reference (cf. Mt 13:33).

You represent—through your history and diverse pedagogical approaches—a wealth of charisms that form the constellation of Christian paideia . Faced with this vibrant constellation, we must not lose sight of the centrality of Christ, whose light shines upon all the stars. This kaleidoscope of such beautiful colors leads me to reflect on the theme of your Encounter: “ Without identity there is no education .” Christian identity is not a decorative label or an embellishment, but the very core that gives meaning, method, and purpose to the educational process.

Like sailors who lose sight of the North Star, it's not uncommon for a ship to drift aimlessly. For Christian education, Christ is the compass. Without his light, the educational mission itself becomes meaningless and automatism, lacking the transformative power offered by the Gospel (cf. Rom 12:2). Therefore, it is a matter of fully responding to a vocation and a completely original project, embodied in practices, the curriculum, and the educational community itself.[1]

Identity is not merely an accessory or a cosmetic touch, made visible through isolated rituals or even repetitive, lifeless mechanisms. Identity is the foundation that articulates the educational mission, defines its horizon of meaning, and guides its daily practices, both in how we teach and how we assess and act. When identity fails to inform pedagogical decisions, it risks becoming a superficial adornment that cannot sustain educational work in the face of the many cultural, ethical, and social tensions that characterize our times of polarization and violence.

The words of María Zambrano come to mind, who, reflecting on the challenges and tensions of the contemporary world with her particular poetic sensibility, is convinced that the link between the present and the future cannot do without the heritage of the past, because "our soul is crossed by sediments of centuries, the roots are bigger than the branches that see the light."[2] I invite you, therefore, to reflect on these words, looking with hope towards the future without forgetting our history, from which we must learn with wisdom.

An authentic education, therefore, promotes the integration of faith and reason. These are not opposing poles, but complementary paths to understanding reality, forming character, and cultivating intelligence. Consequently, it is essential that the educational experience promote methods that involve the sciences and history, as well as ethics and spirituality. This is fully realized in an educational community that is like a home. Genuine collaboration between the family, the parish, the school, and local communities concretely accompanies each student on their journey of faith and learning.

Looking more closely, as the venerable Fathers of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council already pointed out, the Church, in her educational mission, rediscovers her maternal role. She is the mother who gives birth to believers because she is the Bride of Christ. Almost all the conciliar documents invoke the Church's motherhood to reveal her mystery and her pastoral action, as well as to extend her love in an ecumenical embrace to "her separated children" and to believers of other religions, reaching all people of good will. This happens every day in your schools, open to dialogue and encounter amidst differences. In them, education becomes an instrument of peace and care for creation.[3]

Recently, during the Jubilee for the World of Education, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the conciliar declaration Gravissimum educationis , which I invite you to reread carefully, appreciating its relevance and its vision for the future, despite the many years that have passed. In fact, the Church has been urged to "be concerned with the whole of human life, including earthly life, insofar as it is related to the supernatural vocation; therefore, it has a specific task with regard to the progress and development of education."[4]

In this way, the icon of the Mother Church is presented to us not only as an expression of tenderness and charity, but also as the one that safeguards that capacity—intrinsically linked to it—to be a guide and teacher, having been entrusted by "its most holy Founder […] a double task: to beget children, to educate them and to sustain them, guiding with maternal providence the life of individuals and peoples, whose great dignity she always respected and protected with solicitude."[5]

In closing, it is clear that the Church's educational work—carried out through schools and training activities—is not merely a laudable philanthropic endeavor to meet or sustain a social need, but is an essential part of its identity and mission. Therefore, I encourage you to commit yourselves courageously and look forward with that living hope that is renewed each day in your passion for education.

Thanking you for all your efforts, dear educators, I greet you and bless you.

[1] Cf. Congregation for Catholic Education, The identity of the Catholic school for a culture of dialogue (January 25, 2022).
[2] M. Zambrano, The words of return , Madrid 2009, 67.
[3] Cf. Francis, Address to the students and teachers of the “National Network of Schools of Peace” (November 28, 2022)
[4] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Gravissimum Educationis , on Christian Education (28 October 1965), Prologue
[5] St. John XXIII, Letter enc. Mater et magistrate (May 15, 1961), 1.

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2025/11/22/0891/01609.html