As young people become increasingly immersed in a society that encourages individualism and disconnection, educators must strive to develop a holistic form of education that integrates the heart, mind and body, Pope Francis said.
Speaking to members of the Calasanzian Family – a group of religious orders inspired by St. Joseph Calasanz and dedicated primarily to education – the pope emphasized the “very urgent” need to foster a unity of the “three intelligences” of the heart, mind and hands.
The three must work together “so we can do with our hands what we feel and think, feel what we think and do, think what we feel and do,” he said during the Nov. 28 meeting.
Educators must help young people create a “synthesis” of these intelligences to promote holistic development “in a world that instead pushes them increasingly in the direction of fragmentation between feelings and cognition and between individualism and relationships,” the pope said.
He insisted on the need to develop “normal” relationships that consist of direct human connections rather than “virtual relationships via the mobile phone.”
Reflecting on the charism of St. Joseph Calasanz, the pope praised his willingness to abandon the “ecclesiastical career” which he was on course to pursue and instead dedicate himself to the education of poor children.
“This is how the Pious Schools came into being,” he said, referring to schools operated by members of the Calasanzian Family, “not so much as the result of a predefined and guaranteed plan, but because of the courage of a good priest who allowed himself to get involved in the needs of his neighbor when the Lord placed them before him.”
Pope Francis encouraged the saint’s modern-day followers to “maintain, in your choices, the same openness and the same readiness, without overcalculating, overcoming fears and hesitation, especially in the face of the many new forms of poverty of our times.”
“Do not be afraid to venture out, to respond to the needs of the poor, on paths different to those you have travelled in the past, even at the cost of revising models and resizing expectations,” he said. “It is in this trustful abandonment that your roots lie, and by being faithful to them you will keep your charism alive.”
