‘Drawing New Maps of Hope’: Pope Leo XIV issues his apostolic letter on education. Our Director offers a summary.
Simon summarises the Apostolic Letter on Education which, while drawing on previous documents in a call for an integrated approach to education, the centrality of the family and eschewing purely technical or utilitarian preparation, also captures the implications of the digital realm with its opportunities, challenges and threats.
“Drawing New Maps of Hope” – Apostolic Letter by Pope Leo XIV
This Apostolic Letter, issued on October 27, 2025, commemorates the 60th anniversary of *Gravissimum educationis, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Christian Education. Pope Leo XIV uses this milestone to reflect on Catholic education’s past, present challenges, and future directions.
The document emphasizes that education is not ancillary but fundamental to evangelisation, describing it as the means by which the Gospel becomes an educational gesture, relationship, and culture. The Church’s educational mission involves creating “educational constellations” – humble yet powerful experiences that interpret the times and preserve unity between faith and reason, knowledge and justice.
The letter traces Catholic education’s evolution from:
- Desert Fathers teaching wisdom through parables
- Saint Augustine integrating biblical wisdom with Greco-Roman tradition
- Medieval monasticism preserving classical works
- First universities born “from the heart of the Church”
- Saint Joseph Calasanz opening free schools for the poor
- Saints like John Bosco, Josephine Bakhita, and Elizabeth Ann Seton expanding access to marginalized groups
The Pope declares that “for the Christian faith, the education of the poor is not a favour but a duty.”
Education is presented as a collective endeavour where teachers, students, families, staff, and civil society form a “we” that prevents stagnation and generates life. The document emphasises that religious truth is foundational to general knowledge, citing Saint John Henry Newman, who is declared co-patron of the Church’s educational mission alongside Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The letter reaffirms key principles:
- Every person’s right to education
- Family as the first school
- Integration of faith and culture
- Rejection of reducing education to mere economic function
- Holistic formation encompassing spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, and physical dimensions
Person-Centred Approach
Education must help individuals discover life’s meaning, their dignity, and responsibility toward others, forming both citizens capable of service and believers capable of witness. The document stresses that teacher formation—scientific, pedagogical, cultural, and spiritual—is decisive, requiring more than technical updates.
Subsidiarity and Identity
The document highlights subsidiarity, warning against subordinating education to labour markets and “harsh and inhuman logic of finance.” Catholic education should be “leaven in the human community,” generating reciprocity and opening to social responsibility.
Ecological Dimension
Drawing on Saint Bonaventure, the letter presents Creation contemplation as integral to Christian education, requiring interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects carried out with wisdom and creativity. It emphasises that when the earth suffers, the poor suffer most, calling for education that combines social and environmental justice.
Educational Constellation
The Pope describes Catholic education as a diverse, interconnected network:
- Parish schools and universities
- Professional training centres
- Digital platforms
- Service-learning initiatives
- Cultural pastoral programs
Rather than rivalry, institutions are called to converge, as “unity is our most prophetic strength.”
Digital Age Challenges
While affirming that “technological progress is part of God’s plan for creation,” the document warns that technologies must serve, not replace, the person. It emphasizes that no algorithm can substitute what makes education human: poetry, irony, love, art, imagination, and learning from mistakes.
Global Compact on Education
The letter embraces the Global Compact’s seven pathways and adds three priorities:
- Inner life: Spaces for silence, discernment, and dialogue
- Digital human: Judicious use of technology and AI, placing person before algorithm
- Unarmed peace* Education in non-violent languages and reconciliation
With a clear handle on the zeitgeist, the Pope calls educational communities to “disarm words, raise your eyes, and safeguard the heart,” emphasising that relationships come before opinions and people before programs. He envisions Catholic education as “a laboratory of discernment, pedagogical innovation and prophetic witness” rather than a nostalgic refuge.
In short, this document positions Catholic education as a prophetic response to contemporary challenges—fragmentation, inequality, environmental crisis, and digital transformation—while maintaining fidelity to its foundational principles of human dignity, integral formation, and service to the common good, particularly the poor.