Letter from the Pope: Educational Crisis is a Crisis of Trust in Life

Last Monday, Jan. 21, Pope Benedict XVI released a letter directed towards Catholic educators, students, and parents outlining what he sees as an "emergency" in education today, and encourages all to work through the difficulties they face, and continue their work, "which has the Gospel as its focus, following an educational syllabus that aims at the integral formation of the human person".

At the close of the letter, the Pope cites his last Encyclical, Spe Salvi, and identifies hope as the "soul of education", warning that "our hope today is threatened from many sides and we too, like the ancient pagans, risk becoming men without 'hope and without God in the world'". He goes on to say that "(A)t the root of the crisis of education lies a crisis of trust in life. Hope directed towards God is never hope for me alone, it is always also hope for others. it does not isolate us but unites us in goodness, stimulating us to educate one another in truth and in love".

Read the press release regarding this letter from Vatican Information Services.