Pope Leo XIV says "Those who seek...the truth ultimately seek God, will encounter God, will find God precisely in the beauty of creation" FULL TEXT at Sapienza University
Pope Leo XIV on a special visit to the Sapienza University of Rome on Thursday, May 14.
FULL TEXT ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
AT THE “SAPIENZA” UNIVERSITY OF ROME
Aula Magna on Thursday, May 14, 2026
__________________________________________
Impromptu greeting in the University Chapel
Good morning! Greetings to everyone: the Rector, His Eminence, the Auxiliary Bishops, all of you students, and the professors!
I wanted to begin this visit this morning here in the Chapel, in this beautiful church, a place of encounter with the Lord. Because, first and foremost, my visit this morning is a pastoral visit: to get to know the University a little, to get to know you, to be able to greet you and share a brief moment of faith. Those who seek, those who study, those who seek the truth ultimately seek God, will encounter God, will find God precisely in the beauty of creation, in the many forms on which God has chosen to leave his mark, in all that we are, especially as sons and daughters of God, creatures made in his image, but also in his creation.
So it's a wonderful moment today to share a little with the university community, in this study center... I believe it's the largest in all of Europe. And so it's truly a blessing, a gift from God, to be here and experience this moment, knowing that it is God who called us, it is God who gave this marvelous creation for all of us. I wish you not only a good day, but also good studies, and may this time you spend at this University truly be for all of you an encounter with God and with the beauty of life.
Now I give you my blessing, then we will continue our visit to other places in the University.
[Blessing]
Well, have a nice day, thank you! Thanks for the welcome!
_________
Heading towards the University's Rectorate, the Holy Father addressed a few words of greeting to the students present in the central square of the University:
Good morning everyone! Well, thank you for your welcome! I'm very happy to be here with you this morning; you can follow the entire meeting on screens. And I hope it's a moment of grace, a moment of joy for the entire Sapienza community. Best wishes to you, and see you later!
_________
Speech of the Holy Father
Dear Rector,
political and civil authorities,
distinguished professors, researchers, and technical-administrative staff
, and, above all, dear students!
I was delighted to accept the invitation to meet with the university community of Sapienza – University of Rome. Your university is recognized as a center of excellence in various disciplines and, at the same time, for its commitment to the right to education, including those with limited financial resources, persons with disabilities, prisoners, and those who have fled war zones. For example, I deeply appreciate the fact that the Diocese of Rome and Sapienza University have signed an agreement to open a university humanitarian corridor from the Gaza Strip. It is therefore important for me, who have been Bishop of Rome for just over a year, to be able to meet you. With a pastor's heart, I would like to address the students first and then the faculty.
The avenues of the university city, which I walked to get here, are traversed daily by so many young people, filled with conflicting emotions. I imagine you at times carefree, happy with your own youth, which, even in a troubled world marked by terrible injustices, allows you to feel that the future is yet to be written and that no one can steal it from you. Thus, the studies you undertake, the friendships you forge over these years, and the encounters with diverse thinkers are a promise of what can change us for the better, even before the reality around us. When the desire for truth becomes research, our boldness in study bears witness to the hope of a new world.
You know that I am spiritually connected to Saint Augustine, who was a restless young man: he also made grave mistakes, but none of his passion for beauty and wisdom was lost. In this regard, I was pleased to receive a large number of questions from you: hundreds! Obviously, it's not possible to answer them all, but I keep them in mind, hoping that everyone will seek more opportunities for dialogue. This is also why university chaplaincies exist, where faith meets your questions.
But there's also a sad side to anxiety: we mustn't hide the fact that many young people are struggling. Everyone experiences difficult times; some, however, may feel like they never end. Today, this increasingly depends on the blackmail of expectations and the pressure to perform. It's the pervasive lie of a distorted system, which reduces people to numbers, exacerbating competitiveness and abandoning us to spirals of anxiety. This very spiritual malaise of many young people reminds us that we are not the sum of what we possess, nor a randomly assembled substance in a silent cosmos. We are a desire, not an algorithm! Precisely this special dignity leads me to share two questions with you.
To you young people, this unease asks: "Who are you?" Being ourselves, in fact, is the defining commitment of every man and woman's life. "Who are you?" is the question we ask each other; the question we silently pose to God; the question only we can answer, for ourselves, but which we can never answer alone. We are our bonds, our language, our culture: all the more reason why it is vital that the university years be a time of great encounters.
Therefore, to those of us who are older, youthful discontent asks: "What kind of world are we leaving behind?" A world sadly distorted by wars and the words of war. This is a pollution of reason, which from the geopolitical level permeates every social relationship. The simplification that creates enemies must therefore be corrected, especially in universities, with a concern for complexity and the wise exercise of memory. In particular, the tragedy of the twentieth century must not be forgotten. The cry of "Never again war!" of my Predecessors, so consonant with the repudiation of war enshrined in the Italian Constitution, spurs us to a spiritual alliance with the sense of justice that lives in the hearts of young people, with their vocation not to confine themselves within ideologies and national borders.
For example, over the past year, the growth in military spending worldwide, and particularly in Europe, has been enormous. Let us not call "defense" a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, depletes investments in education and healthcare, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good. We must also monitor the development and application of artificial intelligence in both the military and civilian spheres, so that it does not deprive human decisions of their responsibility and worsen the tragedy of conflicts. What is happening in Ukraine, Gaza and the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Iran illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation. Let study, research, and investment go in the opposite direction: let them be a radical "yes" to life! Yes to innocent life, yes to young life, yes to the life of peoples who cry out for peace and justice!
A second area of shared commitment concerns ecology. As Pope Francis told us in the Encyclical Laudato si' , "there is a very strong scientific consensus that we are witnessing a worrying warming of the climate system" ( n. 23 ). More than a decade has passed since then, and despite good intentions and some efforts in that direction, the situation does not seem to have improved.
In this scenario, I especially encourage you, dear young people, not to give in to resignation, but instead to transform your anxiety into prophecy. Believers, especially, know that history does not fall hopelessly into the hands of death, but is always protected, no matter what happens, by a God who creates life from nothing, who gives without taking, who shares without consuming. Today, the very implosion of a possessive and consumerist paradigm clears the way for the newness that is already sprouting: study, cultivate, and safeguard justice! Together with me and so many brothers and sisters, be artisans of true peace: a disarming and disarming peace, humble and persevering, working for harmony among peoples and the protection of the Earth.
All your intelligence and boldness are needed. You, in fact, can help those who came before you re-establish a true horizon of meaning, so that we don't just stop at yet another rapid snapshot of the situation we find ourselves in. We must move from hermeneutics to action: so little considered by a society with ever fewer children, you testify that humanity is capable of a future, when it builds it with wisdom.
Your University, which bears a divine name, is a place of study and experimentation, which has shaped critical thinking for centuries. In particular, you professors can cultivate fruitful contact with the minds and hearts of young people: this is a demanding responsibility, certainly, but an exciting one. It is crucial to believe in your students. Therefore, ask yourself often: Do I trust them?
Teaching is a form of charity, just as rescuing a migrant at sea, a poor person on the street, or a desperate conscience must be. It's about always loving human life, valuing its potential, so as to speak to the hearts of young people, without relying solely on their knowledge. Teaching, then, becomes a testimony to values with one's life: it's caring for reality, it's welcoming what we don't yet understand, it's telling the truth. What sense would there be, after all, in training a researcher or professional who fails to cultivate his or her own conscience, a sense of justice, and respect for what cannot and should not be controlled? Knowledge, in fact, serves not only to achieve professional goals, but also to discern who one is. Through classes, internships, interaction with the city, theses, and doctorates, every student can always find new motivation, bringing order to study and life, to tools and goals.
Dearest ones, while I encourage you in this daily exercise, my visit is intended to be a sign of a new educational alliance between the Church in Rome and your prestigious University, which was born and grew within the Church. I assure you all of my remembrance in prayer, and I heartily invoke the Lord's blessing upon the entire Sapienza community. Thank you!
_________
Final greeting off the cuff in front of the Rectorate
Thank you, thank you all! In this final farewell, after this morning's visit, I would like to offer a kind of invitation to all of you: let us work together, let us all be peacemakers in the world, let us work, study, and do everything—from our relationships with friends, our words, our way of thinking—to build peace in the world. Always have hope in the possibility of building a new world! Thank you for being here, and goodbye!
AT THE “SAPIENZA” UNIVERSITY OF ROME
Aula Magna on Thursday, May 14, 2026
__________________________________________
Impromptu greeting in the University Chapel
Good morning! Greetings to everyone: the Rector, His Eminence, the Auxiliary Bishops, all of you students, and the professors!
I wanted to begin this visit this morning here in the Chapel, in this beautiful church, a place of encounter with the Lord. Because, first and foremost, my visit this morning is a pastoral visit: to get to know the University a little, to get to know you, to be able to greet you and share a brief moment of faith. Those who seek, those who study, those who seek the truth ultimately seek God, will encounter God, will find God precisely in the beauty of creation, in the many forms on which God has chosen to leave his mark, in all that we are, especially as sons and daughters of God, creatures made in his image, but also in his creation.
So it's a wonderful moment today to share a little with the university community, in this study center... I believe it's the largest in all of Europe. And so it's truly a blessing, a gift from God, to be here and experience this moment, knowing that it is God who called us, it is God who gave this marvelous creation for all of us. I wish you not only a good day, but also good studies, and may this time you spend at this University truly be for all of you an encounter with God and with the beauty of life.
Now I give you my blessing, then we will continue our visit to other places in the University.
[Blessing]
Well, have a nice day, thank you! Thanks for the welcome!
_________
Heading towards the University's Rectorate, the Holy Father addressed a few words of greeting to the students present in the central square of the University:
Good morning everyone! Well, thank you for your welcome! I'm very happy to be here with you this morning; you can follow the entire meeting on screens. And I hope it's a moment of grace, a moment of joy for the entire Sapienza community. Best wishes to you, and see you later!
_________
Speech of the Holy Father
Dear Rector,
political and civil authorities,
distinguished professors, researchers, and technical-administrative staff
, and, above all, dear students!
I was delighted to accept the invitation to meet with the university community of Sapienza – University of Rome. Your university is recognized as a center of excellence in various disciplines and, at the same time, for its commitment to the right to education, including those with limited financial resources, persons with disabilities, prisoners, and those who have fled war zones. For example, I deeply appreciate the fact that the Diocese of Rome and Sapienza University have signed an agreement to open a university humanitarian corridor from the Gaza Strip. It is therefore important for me, who have been Bishop of Rome for just over a year, to be able to meet you. With a pastor's heart, I would like to address the students first and then the faculty.
The avenues of the university city, which I walked to get here, are traversed daily by so many young people, filled with conflicting emotions. I imagine you at times carefree, happy with your own youth, which, even in a troubled world marked by terrible injustices, allows you to feel that the future is yet to be written and that no one can steal it from you. Thus, the studies you undertake, the friendships you forge over these years, and the encounters with diverse thinkers are a promise of what can change us for the better, even before the reality around us. When the desire for truth becomes research, our boldness in study bears witness to the hope of a new world.
You know that I am spiritually connected to Saint Augustine, who was a restless young man: he also made grave mistakes, but none of his passion for beauty and wisdom was lost. In this regard, I was pleased to receive a large number of questions from you: hundreds! Obviously, it's not possible to answer them all, but I keep them in mind, hoping that everyone will seek more opportunities for dialogue. This is also why university chaplaincies exist, where faith meets your questions.
But there's also a sad side to anxiety: we mustn't hide the fact that many young people are struggling. Everyone experiences difficult times; some, however, may feel like they never end. Today, this increasingly depends on the blackmail of expectations and the pressure to perform. It's the pervasive lie of a distorted system, which reduces people to numbers, exacerbating competitiveness and abandoning us to spirals of anxiety. This very spiritual malaise of many young people reminds us that we are not the sum of what we possess, nor a randomly assembled substance in a silent cosmos. We are a desire, not an algorithm! Precisely this special dignity leads me to share two questions with you.
To you young people, this unease asks: "Who are you?" Being ourselves, in fact, is the defining commitment of every man and woman's life. "Who are you?" is the question we ask each other; the question we silently pose to God; the question only we can answer, for ourselves, but which we can never answer alone. We are our bonds, our language, our culture: all the more reason why it is vital that the university years be a time of great encounters.
Therefore, to those of us who are older, youthful discontent asks: "What kind of world are we leaving behind?" A world sadly distorted by wars and the words of war. This is a pollution of reason, which from the geopolitical level permeates every social relationship. The simplification that creates enemies must therefore be corrected, especially in universities, with a concern for complexity and the wise exercise of memory. In particular, the tragedy of the twentieth century must not be forgotten. The cry of "Never again war!" of my Predecessors, so consonant with the repudiation of war enshrined in the Italian Constitution, spurs us to a spiritual alliance with the sense of justice that lives in the hearts of young people, with their vocation not to confine themselves within ideologies and national borders.
For example, over the past year, the growth in military spending worldwide, and particularly in Europe, has been enormous. Let us not call "defense" a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, depletes investments in education and healthcare, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good. We must also monitor the development and application of artificial intelligence in both the military and civilian spheres, so that it does not deprive human decisions of their responsibility and worsen the tragedy of conflicts. What is happening in Ukraine, Gaza and the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Iran illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation. Let study, research, and investment go in the opposite direction: let them be a radical "yes" to life! Yes to innocent life, yes to young life, yes to the life of peoples who cry out for peace and justice!
A second area of shared commitment concerns ecology. As Pope Francis told us in the Encyclical Laudato si' , "there is a very strong scientific consensus that we are witnessing a worrying warming of the climate system" ( n. 23 ). More than a decade has passed since then, and despite good intentions and some efforts in that direction, the situation does not seem to have improved.
In this scenario, I especially encourage you, dear young people, not to give in to resignation, but instead to transform your anxiety into prophecy. Believers, especially, know that history does not fall hopelessly into the hands of death, but is always protected, no matter what happens, by a God who creates life from nothing, who gives without taking, who shares without consuming. Today, the very implosion of a possessive and consumerist paradigm clears the way for the newness that is already sprouting: study, cultivate, and safeguard justice! Together with me and so many brothers and sisters, be artisans of true peace: a disarming and disarming peace, humble and persevering, working for harmony among peoples and the protection of the Earth.
All your intelligence and boldness are needed. You, in fact, can help those who came before you re-establish a true horizon of meaning, so that we don't just stop at yet another rapid snapshot of the situation we find ourselves in. We must move from hermeneutics to action: so little considered by a society with ever fewer children, you testify that humanity is capable of a future, when it builds it with wisdom.
Your University, which bears a divine name, is a place of study and experimentation, which has shaped critical thinking for centuries. In particular, you professors can cultivate fruitful contact with the minds and hearts of young people: this is a demanding responsibility, certainly, but an exciting one. It is crucial to believe in your students. Therefore, ask yourself often: Do I trust them?
Teaching is a form of charity, just as rescuing a migrant at sea, a poor person on the street, or a desperate conscience must be. It's about always loving human life, valuing its potential, so as to speak to the hearts of young people, without relying solely on their knowledge. Teaching, then, becomes a testimony to values with one's life: it's caring for reality, it's welcoming what we don't yet understand, it's telling the truth. What sense would there be, after all, in training a researcher or professional who fails to cultivate his or her own conscience, a sense of justice, and respect for what cannot and should not be controlled? Knowledge, in fact, serves not only to achieve professional goals, but also to discern who one is. Through classes, internships, interaction with the city, theses, and doctorates, every student can always find new motivation, bringing order to study and life, to tools and goals.
Dearest ones, while I encourage you in this daily exercise, my visit is intended to be a sign of a new educational alliance between the Church in Rome and your prestigious University, which was born and grew within the Church. I assure you all of my remembrance in prayer, and I heartily invoke the Lord's blessing upon the entire Sapienza community. Thank you!
_________
Final greeting off the cuff in front of the Rectorate
Thank you, thank you all! In this final farewell, after this morning's visit, I would like to offer a kind of invitation to all of you: let us work together, let us all be peacemakers in the world, let us work, study, and do everything—from our relationships with friends, our words, our way of thinking—to build peace in the world. Always have hope in the possibility of building a new world! Thank you for being here, and goodbye!
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