On Saturday 25 February 2023, the academic community of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross took part in the Audience that Pope Francis conceded to the Roman Pontifical Universities and Institutions. As students of Holy Cross, the seminarians of our College were there to listen attentively to the Holy Father, who began his address by recalling the meaning and beauty of carrying out one's studies in the ecclesiastical sciences in Rome: "You belong to a vast and pluriform system of ecclesiastical studies, which has flourished over the centuries thanks to the wisdom of the People of God, scattered throughout the world and closely linked to the mission of evangelisation of the whole Church. You are part of a richness that has grown under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in research, dialogue, discernment of the signs of the times and listening to many different cultural expressions. In it you stand out for your special closeness - also geographical - to the Successor of Peter and to his ministry of joyfully proclaiming the truth of Christ".
Then, Pope Francis invited the thousands of students, professors, rectors and employees gathered in the Paul VI Hall to work together in an atmosphere of understanding that will undoubtedly favour the spread of the Gospel: "Make a chorus! The university is the school of agreement and consonance between different voices and instruments. It is not the school of uniformity: no, it is the agreement and consonance between different voices and instruments'.
"This harmony," the Pontiff added, "demands to be cultivated first of all in yourselves, among the three intelligences that vibrate in the human soul: that of the mind, that of the heart and that of the hands, each with its own timbre and character, and all necessary. Language of the mind that is united with that of the heart and that of the hands: what you think, what you feel, what you do'.