New Apostolic Letter by Pope Leo XIV — “Disegnare Nuove Mappe di Speranza” (Drawing New Maps of Hope)
Pope Leo XIV’s latest Apostolic Letter, signed on October 27, 2025, and published today, October 28, 2025, renews the Church’s vision for Catholic education as a journey of faith and hope.
Marking the 60th anniversary of “Gravissimum Educationis”, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Christian Education — a document which emphasized the vital importance and timeliness of education in the life of the human person — the Holy Father calls Catholic educators to form the whole person, uniting faith and reason, intellect and compassion, wisdom and service.
In this Letter, he also recognizes the efforts of saints such as Saint Joseph Calasanz, Saint John Baptist de La Salle, Saint John Bosco, and Saint John Henry Newman, whom he declared co-patron of the Church’s educational mission, alongside Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Following their example, he warns against a faith that stands in opposition to reason, stressing that desire and heart must never be separated from knowledge, for that would mean breaking the unity of the human person.
“Catholic universities and schools” , Pope Leo reminds us, “are places where questions are not silenced and doubt is not banished but supported” (cf. No. 3.1). Thus, “Catholic education has the task of rebuilding trust in a world marked by conflicts and fears, remembering that we are children and not orphans; from this awareness, fraternity is born” (cf. No. 4.3).
The document was originally published only in Italian. However, we at Fides Media have provided a working English translation to make the content more accessible to our readers.
