FRANCIS
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
VERITATIS GAUDIUM
VERITATIS GAUDIUM
ON ECCLESIASTICAL UNIVERSITIES AND FACULTIES
1.The joy of truth (Veritatis Gaudium) expresses the
restlessness of the human heart until it encounters and dwells within
God’s Light, and shares that Light with all people.[1] For truth is not an abstract idea, but is Jesus himself, the Word of God in whom is the Life that is the Light of man (cf. Jn
1:4), the Son of God who is also the Son of Man. He alone, “in
revealing the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals
humanity to itself and brings to light its very high calling”.[2]
When we encounter the Living One (cf. Rev 1:18) and the firstborn among many brothers (cf. Rom
8:29), our hearts experience, even now, amid the vicissitudes of
history, the unfading light and joy born of our union with God and our
unity with our brothers and sisters in the common home of creation. One
day we will experience that endless joy in full communion with God. In
Jesus’ prayer to the Father – “that they may all be one; even as you,
Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (Jn 17:21) – we find the secret of the joy that Jesus wishes to share in its fullness (cf. Jn
15:11). It is the joy that comes from the Father through the gift of
the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and of love, freedom,
justice and unity.
This is the joy that the Church is impelled by Jesus to bear witness
to and to proclaim in her mission, unceasingly and with ever renewed
vigour. The People of God makes its pilgrim way along the paths of
history, accompanying in solidarity the men and women of all peoples and
cultures, in order to shed the light of the Gospel upon humanity’s
journey towards the new civilization of love. Closely linked to the
Church’s evangelizing mission, which flows from her very identity as
completely committed to promoting the authentic and integral growth of
the human family towards its definitive fullness in God, is the vast
multidisciplinary system of ecclesiastical studies. This system has
developed over the centuries from the wisdom of the People of God, under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in dialogue with, and discernment
of, the signs of the times and diverse cultural expressions.
It is not surprising then that the Second Vatican Council, in its
decisive and prophetic effort to renew the Church’s life for a more
effective mission in this moment of history, in its Decree Optatam Totius
called for a faithful and creative review of ecclesiastical studies
(cf. Nos. 13-22). That review, after careful study and prudent testing,
led to the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana,
promulgated by Saint John Paul II on 15 April 1979. The Constitution
further encouraged and refined the Church’s efforts to support “Ecclesiastical Faculties and Universities,
which is to say those concerned particularly with Christian revelation
and questions connected therewith and which are therefore more closely
connected with her mission of evangelization”, as well as with other
disciplines which, “although lacking a special link with Christian
revelation, can still help considerably in the work of evangelizing”.[3]
Almost forty years later, in fidelity to the spirit and directives of
Vatican II and for its own timely application, the Apostolic
Constitution urgently needs to be brought up to date. While remaining
fully valid in its prophetic vision and its clarity of expression, the
Constitution ought to include the norms and dispositions issued since
its promulgation, and to take into account developments in the area of
academic studies in these past decades. There is also a need to
acknowledge the changed social-cultural context worldwide and to
implement initiatives on the international level to which the Holy See
has adhered.
This, then, is a good occasion to promote with thoughtful and
prophetic determination the renewal of ecclesiastical studies at every
level, as part of the new phase of the Church’s mission, marked by
witness to the joy born of encountering Jesus and proclaiming his
Gospel, that I set before the whole People of God as a programme in Evangelii Gaudium.
2.The Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana represented
in every respect the mature fruit of the great work of reforming
ecclesiastical studies initiated by the Second Vatican Council. In
particular, it consolidated the progress made in this crucial area of
the Church’s mission under the wise and prudent guidance of Blessed Paul
VI, while at the same time heralding the contribution, in continuity
with the past, which would be made by the magisterium of Saint John Paul
II.
As I have had occasion to note, “one of the main contributions of the
Second Vatican Council was precisely seeking a way to overcome this
divorce between theology and pastoral care, between faith and life. I
dare say that the Council has revolutionized to some extent the status
of theology – the believer’s way of doing and thinking”.[4] It is precisely in this light that Optatum Totius
strongly proposes that ecclesiastical studies “be more suitably aligned
and… work harmoniously towards opening more and more the minds of the
students to the mystery of Christ. For it is this mystery which affects
the whole history of the human race, [and] continually influences the
Church”.[5]
In order to achieve this, the conciliar Decree urges joining meditation
with the study of sacred Scripture, “the soul of all theology”,[6]
together with assiduous and conscious participation in the sacred
Liturgy, the “primary and indispensable source of the truly Christian
spirit”,[7]
and the systematic study of the living Tradition of the Church in
dialogue with all people of our time, listening attentively to their
concerns, their sufferings and their needs.[8] Consequently, Optatam Totius stresses, “pastoral concern… ought to permeate thoroughly the entire training of the students”,[9]
so that they become accustomed to “transcending the limits of their own
diocese, nation, or rite, and to helping the needs of the whole Church,
[and] prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere”.[10] .......
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