Rosario Yori
L'Osservatore Romano
The content of this news item has been machine translated and may contain some inaccuracies with respect to the original content published in Spanish.
During an official visit to the Vatican from 18 to 26 October, Pope Francis, our Grand Chancellor Giuseppe Versaldi and high authorities in Rome received a PUCP delegation led by our Rector, Dr. Carlos Garatea Grau. He was accompanied by the academic vice-rector, Dr. Cristina Del Mastro; the administrative vice-rector, Dr. Domingo González; and Father Fernando Roca, academic director of Church Relations.
The visit comes on the fifth anniversary of the approval of the new statute of the PUCP, which was agreed with the Holy See for the normalisation of the University's links with the Church hierarchy. "Our visit has been, in part, to thank the Vatican for the support given to the PUCP at that time," said the Rector, Dr. Carlos Garatea Grau, in an interview about the issues discussed during this visit to the Holy See.
During the visit, the representatives of our University held meetings with high authorities of the Holy See, such as Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology; Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development; Cardinal Michael Czerny, Undersecretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development; Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State; Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State; the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr; Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State; the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father Arturo Sosa; Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and our Grand Chancellor; Father Roberth Hernández, Versaldi's secretary; and, finally, with the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis I.
"Pope Francis received us with great affection, very kind, affable, simple, with an attitude of listening and companionship," said the rector about the meeting. "We spoke about different topics. One of them, which the Pope insisted on, is that must beware of all ideologies (left or right) and that the line of the University must be the search for truth," he said. During his meeting, the Supreme Pontiff recorded a message for our university community in which he said: "The university community is everyone: from the student who has just entered to the rector. You are all part of this university family. Take care of each other. Have a team mystique.
In the various meetings held over the course of ten days, several topics were discussed, such as the University's commitment to its environment, its formative role in accompanying young people, and the importance of dialogue and interdisciplinary studies as part of an institutional mission to comprehensively understand the great problems of humanity. "Pope Francis urged us not to forget the context in which we live and reminded us that it is always possible to give more for others," said the rector. "This trip has been very important for the University because we have received the support of the Holy See for the work we do in the country," he concluded.
