Leo XIV and the Courage of Christian Education
Saint John Baptist de La Salle (1651–1719), French priest and founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, was a revolutionary figure in the field of education. At a time when education was the privilege of the few, he dreamed of a free, popular, class-based Christian school accessible to all. His pedagogical intuition was prophetic: to unite education and faith to educate man in an integral way, starting with the poorest. He is the patron saint of teachers and was the first to conceive of teaching as a true lay vocation within the Church.
This is the foundation of Pope Leo XIV's speech to the Brothers of the Christian Schools , on May 15, 2025, in the Clementine Hall. A dense speech, which is not only a commemoration, but a prophetic relaunch of a cultural and ecclesial battle. Below, we analyze the central passages with a critical judgment.
Pope Leo XIV starts from a comparison between the educational challenges of the 17th century and those of our time. If then the obstacle was the Latin language, today the impediment to human and spiritual growth is ethical and cultural relativism . The Pontiff denounces "thought patterns weakened by relativism" as one of the greatest dangers for young people, implicitly affirming that without truth there is no education possible .
This position is clearly linked to the teaching of Benedict XVI, who defined relativism as “the dictatorship of weak thought”. Leo XIV does not limit himself to a sociological observation, but launches an appeal to “find new languages” to return to speaking to the hearts of young people with a truth that saves and structures .
The Pope praises the work of De La Salle not only as charity towards the poor, but as a founding gesture of an alternative Christian civilization . He recalls how the holy founder conceived free schools, in a comprehensible language, with the involvement of families: an embryonic form of educational subsidiarity , opposed to any pedagogical statism.
In an age in which public schools are often reduced to an instrument of social engineering, Leo XIV relaunches the Christian model: educating by evangelizing and evangelizing by educating . Education is not only the transmission of knowledge, but the formation of the integral man – body, intellect and spirit.
A central passage of the speech is the revaluation of the laity consecrated to education . The brothers are not priests, but their mission has full ecclesial value. “Your altar is the chair,” stated De La Salle. Leo XIV reiterates that the Christian layperson is not a spectator, but an actor in the ecclesial body , and he is so in a “ministerial” way.
It is a strong call to responsibility: we need holy educators, trained, capable of sacrifice , authentic witnesses – in the evangelical sense, true martyrs – in a society that tends to neutralize faith. The Christian school thus becomes a bulwark against the worldliness of the Church itself.
The Pontiff denounces “the isolation caused by relational models marked by superficiality and individualism”, with evident reference to the domination of digital media . Without using alarmist tones, he describes the new loneliness of young people as the result of a system that takes away time from listening, reflection and real dialogue.
The invitation is to free the young generations from the “modern chains” of inconsistency , which make them fragile and disoriented. An authentic Christian education can and must offer a solid alternative, anchored to reality and personal relationships.
In contrast, a Christocentric vision emerges in the discourse that rejects any symbolic or sociological reduction of Jesus . Christian education makes sense only if Christ is recognized as a living Person , Savior and Lord. Not as a "value", nor as a generic ethical inspiration.
Leo XIV, in line with the deepest teaching of the Church, relaunches faith in Jesus Christ as the beating heart of teaching , otherwise the Christian school would be reduced to an educational NGO.
The Pope closes with a clear and courageous appeal: to promote vocations to Lasallian religious life , breaking down the wall of resignation and secularism that surrounds many ecclesial communities. It is not just a matter of increasing the number, but of testifying that consecration is still today a path to happiness, fruitfulness and mission .
The religious vocation, especially in the educational field, is presented as a prophetic form of baptismal ministry , capable of generating new saints and a new culture.
Leo XIV's speech is not only a tribute to the past, but a call to action . In a world where school is becoming increasingly neutral, functional, horizontal, the Pope proposes a vertical model, fully human and Christian , in which educating means opening to the mystery, forming in the truth and introducing to the beauty of living.
What emerges forcefully from Leo XIV's speech is that education has never been - and never will be - a simple profession. It is not just a matter of transmitting notions or containing social problems, but of accompanying a journey , of making the deepest question about himself and the meaning of life vibrate in the young person .
Christian education, if it is authentic, does not impose or domesticate , but calls into question the whole person , provoking him to rediscover himself as a desiring being, in relation, open to the Mystery. Only in this way can that spark be ignited that makes existence an adventure and faith a personal and passionate discovery. Not a moral duty, but the encounter with a Presence that gives fulfillment to the thirst for truth, justice, beauty .
In this sense, relativism is not only a doctrinal error , but an attack on hope . Because if nothing is true for everyone, nothing can give meaning to each. The Pope denounces it clearly: weakened thought does not liberate, but isolates. It destroys the very possibility of educating, because it takes away from man the certainty of being worthy, of being loved, of being made for something great .
Whoever truly educates, therefore, does not shape from the outside , but inspires from within . He does not offer prefabricated answers, but bears witness to a present meaning , a life already changed. For this reason the Christian school, today as yesterday, can be a place where the human is reawakened , where freedom is called by name and where faith shows itself as a companion for life, capable of making everything more human. Even fatigue. Even pain. Even death.
Needless to say, these reminders of the essential comfort me deeply: they give me strength, they guide my heart and my reason. Already from these first interventions, Leo XIV is offering precious and clear indications, capable of generating a true rebirth. I hope that everyone - especially the ecclesial movements and those who are following a serious path of faith - will be able to welcome these words not only as personal nourishment, but also as an impulse to rebuild a subject of cultural, educational and social presence .
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