“Your institutions are called not only to teach your students about the injustices faced by those on the margins of society, but also to be powerful channels in promoting systemic change through proposing new models rooted in solidarity and the common good,” the Pope said June 25 in a meeting at the Vatican that drew leaders of Jesuit colleges and universities in North America, according to the publication. The Pope encouraged the leaders “to offer opportunities for immigrants, refugees, and those of a lower socio-economic status to have the benefit of an advanced education.”
According to the publication, the Pope also encouraged the institutions to lead “instruct by example, and not solely in theory,” when it comes to caring for creation, particularly in light of what described as “the exploitation of resources by a few at the expense of the common good.” He lauded researchers for being truth-seekers who are “ultimately seeking God, whether they realize it nor not.”
The Pope’s plea for Jesuit institutions of higher learning in North America to help immigrants and refugees came on the same day that the Trump administration won a Supreme Court victory that allows the administration to block asylum seekers at the border. It also comes at a time when the Trump administration has prioritized mass deportation and imposed visa restrictions that have turned international students away from studying in the U.S.
President Trump has made no secret of his contempt for Pope Leo, once lambasting the Pope in a lengthy social media post as being “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
