11 July 2022 | Message

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE EU YOUTH CONFERENCE

PRAGUE

[…] Among the various proposals of the Global Compact on Education, I would like
to recall two that I also noted in your Conference.
First, be open to acceptance, and hence to the value of inclusion. Don’t let
yourselves be drawn into short-sighted ideologies that want to show others, those
who are different from ourselves, as enemies. Others are an asset. The experience
of the millions of European students who have taken part in the Erasmus Project
testifies to the fact that encounters between people from different peoples help to
open eyes, minds and hearts. It is good to have “a broad outlook” in order to be
open up to others, and not discriminating against anyone, for any reason. Be in
solidarity with everyone, not only with those who look like us, or give off an image
of success, but with those who suffer, whatever their nationality or social status. Let
us not forget that millions of Europeans in the past have had to emigrate to other
continents in search of a future. I myself am the son of Italians who emigrated to
Argentina.
The main objective of the Educational Pact is to educate everyone to a more
fraternal life, based not on competitiveness but on solidarity. Your greatest
aspiration, dear young people, should not be to enter elite educational
environments, where only people with lots of money can be accepted. Such
institutions often have an interest in maintaining the status quo, in training people
to ensure that the system works the way it is. Rather, those schools that combine
educational quality with service to others should be valued, since the purpose of
education is personal growth directed towards the common good. These
experiences of solidarity will change the world, not the “exclusive” (and
exclusionary) experiences of elite schools. Excellence yes, but for all, not just for
some.
I would encourage you to read my Encyclical Fratelli Tutti (3 October 2020) and the
Document on Human Fraternity (4 February 2019), which I signed together with the
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. I know that many Muslim universities and schools are
reading these texts with interest, and so I hope you too will find them inspiring.
Education, then, should have as its goal not only to “know oneself” but also to know
others. […]